The Haunted Stage
by Tsuki No Shuurai
Summary: When SPR are called out to investigate a series of strange accidents at an old Noh Theater,they are immediately caught up in a centuries old mystery, as Mai's abilities change in new and frightening ways.....
1. Prelude

**Prelude**

He is the best of them all, and he knows it

Of them all, it is him who consistently plays the _shite, _the star, in the _Katsura mono. _It is he who plays the warrior in the _shura. _He is versatile, beautiful, the _hana _and the _myo_.

Tonight, he stands before his audience on the pavilion stage, in the final throes of the warrior's dramatic death, his kimono spilling about him like black water or blood. He glances across at his rival, speaks the lines to him, but in some deep part of his mind that is not occupied with the performance, he is focused on the _wakizure,_ and it adds a different meaning to the performance for him, especially when the wakizure looks up and smiles, briefly, fleetingly, as the warrior dies.

What he doesn't know, is that he will be lying in his own blood by the end of this night.

**A/N—Everything I know about Noh theater I've learned from Wikipedia, so forgive me if I have any details wrong here. I know this is short, but there will be more to come, so….**

**Shite—Primary actor.**

**Katsura mono--****depict the **_**shite**_** in a female role and feature some of the most refined songs and dances in all of Noh.**

**Shura—warrior play.**

**Hana—flower, a description of skill.**

**Myo—pleasingly adapted to role.**

**Wakizure—rival's "companion".**


	2. June 15th

**June 15th**

Naru was in a temper, and as usual, everyone else in the building was very well aware of it, thank you very much.

Mai had assumed that things were bad when she had walked in, the tinkle of the bell on the door preternaturally loud in the silence. That wasn't that unusual; sometimes, Mai wondered if Naru and Lin spoke to anyone before she came in.

What was unusual was that Mai had been standing just inside the door for five minutes and counting, and still, she had yet to be sent to make a cup of tea. If not for the fact that Lin's office door was open a little to allow the air to circulate, she would have thought the building deserted.

Mai shrugged off the oppressive air and went to stow her purse in the small kitchenette, grabbing two glasses and a teacup as she passed. _If it was this hot, I'd want my tea iced, but I'll bring a hot cup too. Besides, if Naru doesn't want it, I'll drink it. _She knew that Lin wouldn't want hot tea, and she couldn't blame him; the fans were barely keeping the office comfortable, and as the air conditioning had failed quite suddenly and exponentially two days ago, they were trapped in the middle of an unprecedented mid-June heat wave without the benefit of it.

She balanced hot and iced tea on a tray and made her way over to Lin's office, nudging the door open with her foot. "Hey, Lin-san. Iced tea?"

Lin didn't turn, only nodded and continued typing—what, Mai had no idea. She resisted the urge to look over his shoulder as she set the glass on his desk. _It's none of my business, really. _

Mai groaned inwardly as she stepped back out into the hall. "You'd think, with this being Shibuya and all, that somebody would get sent out to fix a faulty air conditioner," she muttered as she left, and started down the hall toward Naru's office. _Still no call for tea. Is he asleep or something? _

She pushed the door open gently and stepped in, tray balanced on one hand—and immediately froze as Naru's reddened eyes fell on her.

"What—" he gritted out between his teeth, "do you want?"

Mai took a step back, nonplussed. "Umm…tea?" _What's up with him?_

Naru took a deep breath and carefully rearranged his features once more. "Just leave it on the desk. No, I don't want it iced."

"But it's so hot. I thought you might like something a little more refreshing…."

Naru shook his head. "Leave it on the desk, please, and then go. I'm working."

Mai bit back the reply that was on the tip of her tongue and set the cup on the desk. Heading back into the entrance area, she shook her head. _Maybe the heat's getting to him. He's not normally this on edge, though…._

The sound of the door opening jarred her out of her musings, and she looked up to see a man standing in the doorway. He was a little taller than Naru, with dark hair neatly combed, and a pair of round glasses perched over his nose. Behind them, his eyes were dark and vivid, filled with infectious energy and excitement. He was never still—his eyes darted all around the room as he tapped one foot. They landed on her and he bowed his head.

"Good afternoon," he said. "Do you know if Shibuya-san is in? I'm Sato," he added. "Sato Natsuki."

Mai smiled widely. "Shibuya-san is in. Would you please take a seat, Sato-san? Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Iced tea would be fine."

Mai got him his tea, then proceeded down the hallway to Naru's office. She knocked, then waited. There was no reply.

"Naru?"

Still no reply, but she thought she could hear something, the soft _shh_ of a window sliding closed. A moment later, Naru had pushed open the door with his usual impassive expression.

"Mai? What is it?"

"There's a client out front, asking for you." There was something off about him, as if the face he wore was merely a mask. It could be read in the tenseness of his face, and Mai saw that his eyes were slightly reddened, almost as if….

No. That couldn't be possible.

Because through everything, through pain and horror and shock, Mai had never, ever seen her boss cry.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Naru sipped at his tea and set it down on the table, opening his file as he did so. "Sato-san, please explain why you are here. Mai, take notes, and they'd better be more legible than last time."

Mai bit back a sharp reply. _What a hypocrite. I might not be so neat as Lin-san, but at least he can actually read mine. _She added it to the growing list of Things She Would Say to Naru _Next _Time and held her tongue, instead saying, "Yes, Shibuya-san."

Sato-san pushed up his glasses. "I'm curious," he said. "He refers to you by your first name, but you call him Shibuya-san? Do the two of you have a….relationship outside of being co-workers?"

"Might I respectfully say that that is none of your business, Sato-san?"

Sato-san shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "My wife tells me I'm as much of a gossip as any old woman. Well, down to business. I'm the chairman of the Historical Theater Restoration Project, and I've seen a lot of odd things on old stages. There was this one, in England, where—but never mind. Let's just say that, as many weird things I might have seen around old buildings like these, they've always had a certifiable scientific source."

Sato-san took a breath. "Just recently, I returned to Japan after a few months in France, and I was going to take a little time off, but someone told me about this old Noh stage out in Hatsukaichi and I just had to go and take a look at it. It turned out to be falling apart and badly in need of repair, but a group of local actors were trying to raise some money to get it renovated. After awhile, we joined up and raised enough money for the renovation.

"Odd things started happening after the renovation—well, I guess before that, really. There was a worker who claimed to have seen spirits at the place, but he was known drunkard and nobody paid much attention. The renovation itself went without a hitch. However, since then, some of the actors have reported hearing strange sounds in the dressing rooms, and there was an…incident, in which another actor claimed to see two shadows of himself, rather than one. We've had people look at it to see if the building might be sinking into the ground, but the land is dry and nothing explains the shadows. One of the musicians was involved in a haunting in Shinjuku awhile back while visiting relatives, and he told me of you, so…." Sato-san trailed off nervously, his foot tapping restlessly on the carpeted floor. He wiped sweat from his forehead and said, "I'd really like to have it looked at. The stage is nice, and I don't want to lose the actors we have now. I think the theater could thrive again if we could prove, once and for all, that either that it was not ever haunted, or that it has been exorcised."

Naru turned to Mai. "Do you have that?" he asked her.

"Yes."

He turned his attention back on Sato-san. "Do you know if there is a history of hauntings in the area?"

Sato-san shook his head. "Nothing that can be proved, no. there's always gossip, but no recorded documentation."

Naru was thinking, Mai could tell. "Hmm. Is the gossip of any interest?"

Sato-san hesitated. "There is one story, the usual sordid actor's affair, really. It has to do with a _shite_ who fell in love with a wealthy woman of the town. They eloped, but it's supposed to have ended in misfortune. Like I said, only whispers, but….they say it might have been murder. There's no proof that he was killed in the theater itself, but there is some suspicion that he died by the hand of a jealous rival. Really though—" he laughed nervously, "I've gotten a version of that story at almost every old theater I've ever been to, and like I said, none of the others were haunted or anything." His finger was tapping against his leg. It was faintly irritating that he couldn't seem to keep still, Mai thought as she continued to take notes. "Still, I'd like it if you'd come and take a look. The shadows…..everybody's seen them, not just that one fellow."

"Have you seen these…shadows, Sato-san?" Mai blurted, then winced as she felt Naru's glare fix on her.

The man shifted in his seat. "N—No," he said, not meeting her eyes. "All this I'm hearing is from the actors, musicians, and directors. I myself haven't…haven't seen anything."

_Why do I get the feeling that he's not telling us everything? _Mai glanced at Naru. His eyes were steely, narrowed just slightly. _He can sense it too? _

Naru snapped the file shut with an audible _click. _"Very well," he said. "We're taking your case. I will arrange transportation for myself and my coworkers in three day's time. Will that be suitable?"

Sato-san nodded. "Yes. Thank you, Shibuya-san." There was a sense of vast relief in his voice. Again, Mai looked at him, and he quickly looked away, keeping his eyes hidden from her. "Well, I have to be going now. I'll see you all in three days!"

Mai waited until he left, then turned to Naru. "He's not telling us everything," she said. "Something's wrong here."

"Hmm." Naru appeared to be deep in thought. His ill temper of earlier seemed to have dissipated in light of a new and interesting case. "Maybe. Still, there's no harm in checking the place out." He stood. "Mai, bring—"

"--tea back to my office," Mai muttered as she walked away towards the kitchenette.

**A/N—This chapter is just scene-setting. There'll be something more interesting in the next chapter, don't worry. Thank you to Kyia Star, kay, lizy, Yuki the Ryujiin No Miko, and meri47 for reviewing. Reviews make me very happy ******


	3. Day 1

**Day 1**

"Mai-chan. Wake up."

"Hmm?" It was nice in the van, Mai thought blurrily. The air conditioning worked, for one thing.

"Come on, Mai." The shaking grew more insistent.

"Go 'way, Ayako," Mai muttered, trying to recall what exactly she had been dreaming of. _Its so rare that I get to have a normal dream these days. You'd think Ayako could live with the silence for one more—_

"Mai! What was it I hired you for, anyway?"

Mai groaned and opened her eyes, blinking against the bright sunlight spilling into the formerly shaded backseat of the van. A rush of hot air told her that the door was open."You're letting the AC out," she said, squinting at Naru. He was wearing his usual black, which might have contributed to his mood, and a scowl. Still, Mai thought, it was milder here than it had been when they had left Shibuya earlier that morning. That was something to be grateful for, at least.

"Get out and come with me," Naru said, in his usual imperious fashion. "Once we've spoken to Sato-san, I want you and Lin to set up the shelves and take the equipment in while I take a look around. Matsuzaki-san, see if there's anything you can do to help them, and if not, stay out of the way."

Ayako crossed her arms. "Hey, hey, young man. Have a little more respect, why don't you?" In an undertone to Mai, she murmured, "Why did you have to go and fall asleep and leave me alone with those two? I think they've said all of three words apiece for this entire hour."

Mai shrugged. "Sorry."

"I should have known," Ayako muttered. "I should have caught a ride with Bou-san. Then at least I would have had some conversation."

Mai left Ayako, still muttering, and followed Naru and Lin into the theater that had been built around the old-fashioned open air stage, so that plays could be conducted whatever the weather. Inside, it was dark and echoing, the rows of seats forming shadows in the twilight of the theater. The stage itself was all shiny wood, as far as Mai could see; the traditional kagami-ita was a dab of color in the darkness. She would have liked to take a longer look at it, but Naru was already striding over to a door at the far end of the theater, and she had no wish to be rebuked for being slow.

The door led into a much smaller room that appeared to be some sort of office. There was a desk, at any rate, and a few office chairs of the same sort that Mai had spent an hour muttering over slash assembling when her old one had snapped entirely, and Naru had gotten new chairs for both her and Lin--the instructions had made it look easier than it was to execute with her limited technical knowledge—as well as a coffeemaker on a small table in the corner. Sato-san sat behind the desk; he looked up as they entered and grinned good-naturedly. "Konnichawa, Shibuya-san. I'm glad to see you here." He bowed his head slightly. "And who might these two be?"

"My assistants," Naru explained. "Taniyama Mai and Lin Koujo. They'll be with me while we talk. If that's not a problem?"

"Oh…no, not at all. Besides," Sato-san smiled at Mai. "I remember this young lady from my visit to your office. A very pretty young note-taker you've got there, eh, Shibuya-san?"

Naru, to Mai's disappointment, seemed to regard this as a tremendously foolish observation, and ignored it. "So, Sato-san. Please tell us what has happened since we last talked. Lin?"

Lin's laptop was already flipped open. Sato-san's eyebrows raised. "Your assistants are very…efficient. Ah, well. I just wish mine were, y'know? Right. You asked what's happened since we last talked. Well….to be entirely honest….nothing."

Naru's expression didn't alter a bit, but Mai could tell that he was thinking. "Nothing, Sato-san?"

"Absolutely nothing." Sato-san leaned slightly forward. "You won't leave, will you, Shibuya-san? We weren't imagining it, what happened before. With the shadows and all. Whatever was here is still here, and I want it gotten rid of. Please?"

Naru lifted one eyebrow. "What makes you think we'd leave, Sato-san?"

"Well… I…." Sato-san seemed to be at a loss. "I just…"

"Thought we'd just make assumptions and be gone? We are professionals, sir, albeit in a fairly… obtuse field." Naru's tone was cold. "We will go about this case as we would any other, whatever lull in events might have occurred."

Sato-san was silent for a moment. Then, he relaxed somewhat. "Thank you," he said, and he meant it. Mai could hear it in his voice. Again, she got that feeling. _What is it that he isn't telling us?_ "I thought, when I told you—well, anyways. Thank you. We weren't imag—"

"I'd like to speak to the actors who have seen the shadows, as well as any others who might have been involved." Mai winced at Naru's rudeness, but said nothing. That was just Naru, after all. "If the worker who first told of spirits could be found, I'd like to hear from him, too. I trust you have a room for us, as we asked?"

"Oh…err…" Sato-san seemed rather put off. Mai didn't blame him. "Oh, yes, of course. I'll take you there immediately."

He led them out of the theater and around to the older building that the theater was built onto. "See, originally, all of these sorts of stages were outside, in the open air. I wanted it to be a little more sheltered, so that we could keep a decent schedule going whatever the weather, so we built the theater onto the existing buildings that served as the dressing rooms and such. We fixed the old buildings up some, too; I'm actually really proud of the way it turned out. Anyway, we cleared the smaller dressing room for you. It should fit all of your equipment and such. It's kind of drafty, but, anyhow, here it is. There's a way to get in from the theater too, but you'd have to climb up and exit by the hashigakari, and the stage might get scratched, so it's more polite to come around, y'know? Anyways…here it is." Sato-san pushed open another small door. 'is it sufficient?"

Naru surveyed the room. It wasn't very big, Mai saw, but it would fit the computers and such.

"It isn't ideal, but it shall have to suit," Naru declared. "Lin, Mai, you know what to do. Sato-san, if I may take a look around?"

"Oh, of course. Here, I'll give you a bit of a tour…"

Lin led the way back out of the building. "Leave that door open, Taniyama-san. It'll be easier to move everything in that way."

"Anything I can do?" Ayako asked as Mai hefted a stack of disassembled shelving.

"Depends," Mai said, shifting the stack onto her other shoulder. She had gotten stronger since she had first been hired, she realized; a year or so ago, she had been barely able to lift this much. "How much can you lift?"

Ayako shrugged. "I'm not sure, really."

Mai thought for a moment. "You could set these up," she said. She was, she realized, actually giving orders, which was an odd feeling. She glanced at Lin, wondering if he minded—technically, his rank was superior to hers—but he didn't even seem to notice, fully engaged in unloading the cameras. "Umm…yeah, I'll carry these in, and you can set them up. That way I can go set up some of the cameras and mikes in each room."

"Nice to know I can be useful," Ayako grumbled as she followed Mai intro the dressing room. "This is tiny. How is it all going to fit?"

Mai shrugged. "It should all fit. If not, I'm sure Lin-san or Naru can figure something out." She paused, working the kinks out of her shoulders. "Where did Bou-san and John go, anways? Weren't they right behind us in John's car?"

"Who knows? They probably stopped to use the restrooms or something. Might have even gotten some lunch." Ayako sighed. "No offense, Mai, but please remind me that I never want to hitch a ride with Lin and Naru again the next time some case takes us outside the city limits."

Mai smiled, briefly. "I will. I didn't mind it too much."

"That's because you were asleep!" Ayako called as she left.

Mai shook her head and went to help Lin.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It was another thirty minutes before Bou-san and John arrived with Yasuhara and Masako in tow. By that time, the monitors were set up in the base room, and Mai and Lin were setting up the remainder of the cameras and microphones.

"So very typical of you," Ayako said, hands on her hips. "Arriving after all the work was done! You're the laziest person I've ever known in my li—"

Bou-san grinned, tucking a strand of his sandy hair back into its ponytail. "Love you, too, Ayako." In an undertone, to Mai, he muttered, "Should have taken her with us, eh?"

Mai nodded vigorously.

"I heard that!"

"Well, good. Your hearing's better than I thought then…."

Mai sighed and tuned them out. Turning to John, she asked. "What took you so long, anyways?"

John shrugged. "We ran out of fuel," he explained. "We stopped to fill up, so Bou-san and Yasuhara said we may as well get some lunch." He raised his voice slightly as Bou-san and Ayako's bickering rose in volume and intensity. "Sorry we're late. We didn't think we'd be that far behind you."

_Smack!!_

"Be careful," Mai warned the other two. "If you knock those monitors down, they'll break." It had obviously fallen to her to keep an eye on the miko and the monk, as Lin had conveniently disappeared. _Oh well. As long as they don't break anything, it'll be alright. _She let her eyes roam over the other two; Masako was aloof as usual, while Yasuhara was grinning at Bou-san as he continued to irritate Ayako. When Mai's eyes met Masako's, the other girl turned her head away and looked in the opposite direction, her mouth set in a grim line. _Probably because I had the doubtful pleasure of being in the car with Naru for three hours. _Mai was well aware that Masako was jealous of her, and they had a very uneasy peace between them; she brushed off the insult and turned back to her camera. "I'll need some help with this," she said. "The only room we haven't done is the boiler room, but I cant carry this down the basement stairs."

Yasuhara bent and lifted the camera, huffing dramatically. "Lead the way, fair maiden," he puffed. "Your loyal manservant is here."

Mai rolled her eyes, picked up the tripod, and led Yasuhara through the building to a small storeroom full of various pieces of equipment, as well as a row of cracked and broken masks along one wall. Fumbling for the lightswitch, Mai shivered; in the half-dark, the masks looked like some sort of bone, glimmering white, with dark holes where the eyes and mouth should be.

She bent and tugged at the ring in the floor, lifting the hatch that led to the basement stairs with a creak of rusting hinges. She dug out her flashlight and flicked it on, illuminating the otherwise shadowy stairs.

"We have to go down there?" Yasuhara asked. "Couldn't Lin-san do this part?"

"He's setting cameras up in the main dressing room. Why?"

Yasuhara shifted the camera in his arms. "It's pretty dark down there. Who knows what could be hiding in the shadows?"

Mai shook her head. "Stop it," she told him. "It's just a basement. Surely you've seen worse." Unbidden, an image of a tiled room buried in the depths of an old mansion flashed in her thoughts; she pushed it away. Now was not the time to remember anything about _that _case, or she'd never go down into the cellar. It had been bad enough right afterward, when she had routinely had nightmares about the creature in the bath, up to the point where she had showered with her bathroom door open and music blaring to keep her from envisioning Urado's twisted form in dark corners…..

No. She was _so _not going there right now.

"Come on," she said. "The sooner we set up the cameras, the sooner we can go back to base."

They began to make their way down the steep stairs, Mai leading with her flashlight, Yasuhara following with the camera. The shadows on the walls showed two of them, one bearing a heavy, unwieldy object in it's arms, another balancing a tripod on it's shoulder. They looked preternaturally large, as if Mai and Yasuhara were mere puppets in the dark.

There was a flicker, and Mai stopped, a little unnerved. There wasn't anything there. _I'm imagining things. _She took another step—and saw it again, from the corner of her eye.

She stopped, unnerved. _An actor…he said he saw two shadows of himself…. _She turned to the wall where she had seen it, trying to get a better look. _It's probably nothing. Probably…._

"Mai-chan?" It was Yasuhara. "Something wrong?"

Mai was about to reply when she felt something brush her ankle. She froze, immediately on alert, swinging her flashlight beam toward the stair. The flashlight, of course, chose that moment to flicker and die. Above them, the light in the storeroom did the same thing, plunging the two teens into complete darkness.

"Mai?" She could hear the quaver in Yasuhara's voice.

"Don't….don't panic," she whispered, partly to herself, partly to Yasuhara. "Um…can you just back up a few steps?"

"What's wrong?"

Mai opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment, the hand around her ankle gave a sharp yank, tugging her feet out from under her.

She screamed and fell into the darkness of the cellar.

**AN—Hi guys (and gals XD)! I promised a more interesting chapter, no? Well, here it is, along with a few things I wanted to clear up:**

**The boiler room that they refer too in the cellar is part of the heating system, as the entire theater is heated by hot water pipes in the walls and floors. I wasn't sure if that was very clear with the way I wrote it, so, yeah….**

**This was originally meant to be a much longer chapter, but upon reviewing what I have to cover in the rest of this chapter, I decided to leave a cliffhanger here and split the chapter into two parts. Depending on my schedule, the next chapter should be up some time within the next two weeks. **

**Thanks as always to my reviewers on Chapter 2: Kyia Star, SimplyChristine, Ginny-cry, and Kay. Thanks especially to Kyia Star for the encouragement and pointing out all of the silly typos I managed to make in the last chapter, as well as being an inspiring author to read ******** Without you guys, I would be lost in the stormy seas of fanfiction XD.**

**Glossary of Terms**

**Hashigakari—the "bridge" that leads from a typical Noh dressing room to the stage, which the principal actors enter the stage by.**

**Konnichawa—good day/afternoon.**


	4. Day 1, continued

**Day 1, continued**

Mai was still screaming when she hit the ground.

Or, more accurately, the invisible force that held her a scant few inches above the stone floor.

In retrospect, Mai could see how this might have been fairly reassuring under different circumstances. But after a disembodied hand yanks on your ankle and sends you tumbling down into a dark cellar, it's understandable that the sensation of being held in such a way might be even more terrifying, especially if one is unsure as to the friendliness of said disembodied-ankle-grabber.

So, Mai kept on screaming for a second or so after she fell. Once she ran out of breath for that, she drew another breath and began making the kuji in front of her.

"Mai?" Yasuhara sounded frightened. _At least he hasn't dropped the camera._

The lights flickered on above her before she could finish with her word-and-gesture combination. Against one wall, her flashlight flicked back on; above her, silhouetted by the light from the storeroom, someone stood at the top of the stairs. Her first thought was that whatever had grabbed her had somehow jumped up behind Yasuhara with intentions of attacking him—but the she recognized the figure and relaxed, letting the hand she had been about to perform her spell with drop back to her side. She felt herself sink a few inches as she did so, until she was resting on the stone of the floor, the presence that had held her up draining away.

"Taniyama-san?"

"I'm all right." She picked herself up off of the floor and rescued her flashlight from where it had rolled against the wall. "Um…both of you, just stay where you are, okay? Actually….Yasuhara, back up a few steps. I need to get a look at the stair…."

"What's going on?" Yasuhara demanded, obediently backing up as Mai came back up the stairs, sweeping her flashlight about her feet. She didn't see anything, but there was no point in not being careful now.

She got to the stair where whatever-it-was had grabbed her and knelt on the step below to get a closer look at it. It looked perfectly ordinary; behind it, she saw nothing but the usual shadows of the cellar. Certainly, no hands or feet or anything remotely human.

However, when she touched the stair, she felt how cold it was and glanced up in shock. Yasuhara and Lin were both staring at her, Yasuhara with an expression of puzzlement, Lin with his brow wrinkled in concentration.

"There _was _something here," she told them. "Something grabbed my ankle. And it's still cold."

"So that's why you fell," Yasuhara said. He shifted the camera in his arms. "Look, I know that the two of you are going to have to take a look at this now, but shouldn't we just go down and set up the camera? I mean, I'd really like to get out of here." He exhaled sharply. "This place gives me the creeps."

Lin nodded slowly, eyes still focused on the step. Mai didn't want to look away either; she felt in her bones that if she did, it would come back. _Now I know how Naru felt when he stared down that spirit during the Yuasa High School case. _She looked up and met Lin's eyes; he shrugged. Nothing.

"There was more," she told him. "Before I fell….. it might have been a trick of the light, but I thought I saw a third shadow on the wall. There was no one here but me and Yasuhara."

Yasuhara shivered.

"Let's just set up the camera, 'kay?" he said. "I want to get back upstairs as soon as I can."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Mai half-expected something else to happen, but with all of the cameras in place, nothing did.

"That's normal," Naru said. "Havent I ever told you that supernatural phenomena like this generally hate strangers?"

"Oh, whatever grabbed my foot in the basement loved me so much, I'm sure," Mai fired back. "That's why it made it so I would've cracked my head if it hadn't have been for Lin-san."

Naru shrugged. "It's not my fault you have a habit of getting yourself into scrapes like these."

"Getting myself into them? All I did was dare to make use of a flight of stairs!"

Naru ignored her, checking the temperature readings on one of the monitors. "It looks normal. A little cooler where you fell, perhaps, but not anything substantial. We'll have to wait and see what the cameras record tonight." He glanced at Mai. "In the meantime, nobody go down into that cellar alone, whatever the reason. Get Lin or me to go with you."

Mai opened her mouth to tell him that she had no intention of going down there for _anything, _then closed it again. There was no point in making her escapade in the basement look any more foolish than it already did. She glanced over at Yasuhara, and he winked at her; at least some people seemed to trust what she said. At least _some_ people--

"Mai. Tea."

--were the same irritating, narcissistic, _demanding _sort that they always were. Mai sighed.

"Eh, Naru-chan, we just got here," Bou-san pointed out. "It's been, what, three hours since your last cup of tea?"

Level blue eyes turned to the ex-monk. "I understand the benefits of keeping hydrated while I'm working, Bou-san. I'd also like to remind you that Mai is _my_ assistant, and therefore it is not your place to criticize what I tell her to do." Naru picked up a clipboard from the desk and surveyed the paper clipped to it. "Sato-san's given me the actor's schedules. We have a few hours of downtime, and we've been invited to watch tonight's performance. I think we may as well—maybe something will happen during the performance, but I rather doubt it. Before the performance, I've been given permission to interview the actors involved in this incident—Mai, I'll need you to take notes for me. Matsuzaki-san, Bou-san—Can I put my trust in your spirit warding ability?"

"What are you trying to imply?" Ayako bristled at the suggestion that her abilities might not warrant Naru's trust. "You've really got some nerve, don't you?"

Naru seemed to take that as an affirmative. "Right, then. The two of you will investigate the basement. Don't hesitate to call out if you're in trouble. John, Hara-san, and Yasuhara-san, you're all free to do whatever you please. Keep your eyes open, and report back if you see, hear, or sense anything abnormal."

The other three nodded in assent.

Naru turned to Mai. "Don't you have something to do?"

Mai bit her lip to keep from saying something rude. "Oh, of course, Shibuya-san." She couldn't tell if the sarcasm of the statement was lost on him or not. With a mental sigh and a shrug, she left the base room in search of a coffeemaker.

Remembering that she had seen one in Sato-san's office, she started toward it, knocking politely on the door. When no one answered, she knocked again. Still no response.

Mai hesitated a moment on the doorstep, then, clutching the tin of tea in her left hand, she pushed the door open, ignoring the small voice in her head that screamed of the rudeness of it all. After all, all she needed as one Styrofoam cup's worth of hot water. Besides, there was something not quite right about the way Sato-san was acting. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it was almost as if he was scared of them.

The office was quiet and deserted, as it had been when they had first come in. Mai set the tin down on the small table and carried the pitcher from the coffeemaker over to the tiny sink tucked into a corner. Once it had the proper amount of water in it, she carried it back and set it into it's place, then turned on the machine and waited. The machine hummed a little as it heated up, the only sound in the silent office.

Mai glanced around the office, trying to see anything she might have missed before, but it looked as any office anywhere might look. There was one photo on Sato-san's desk, framed in black, that appeared to be of his family—it showed a younger Sato-san with his arm around a woman with long, windblown dark hair. She was smiling widely, and holding the hand of a child, a young girl around two years old. She had her mother's hair, although hers was cut in a shorter style. A bookshelf on one wall was stacked with a few books—most of them appeared to be about historical buildings, although since some of the titles appeared to be in English and French, Mai wasn't able to read all of them. There were a few CDs piled beside Sato-san's desk, but the titles were all in English. She sounded one out slowly, taking care to pronounce each syllable. _The Replacements_. Whatever that meant.

The slight whistle of the water heating brought her back to her purpose for being in Sato-san's office in the first place, and she quickly went to pour Naru's tea into the cup. There wasn't any real basis for her uneasy feeling about Sato-san, she realized, but still… oh, well. She would wait and see what came of it.

Of course, when she opened the office door to leave, tin and cup of tea in hand, it was to a bemused Sato-san who had just raised his hand to open the knob.

Mai almost dropped her tea. She recovered quickly though and smiled apologetically at him. "I'm sorry, Sato-san. I didn't mean to intrude, but my boss sent me to make tea and I remembered you had a machine in your office…."

Sato-san waved a hand. His foot was tapping nervously up and down. Why he had to constantly be in motion, Mai had no idea. "It's perfectly alright," he said with a boyish grin. "I was a paper-pusher once too, y'know." He wouldn't quite meet her eyes. _Why wont he look me in the eye?_

"Well….I have to be on my way," Mai said. "Konnichawa, Sato-san."

"Same to you," Sato-san called after her as she walked briskly away.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Naru was, quite predictably, irritated by the wait for his tea. He took the cup from her without a word, making Mai roll her eyes. He couldn't exactly notice, as his were glued to the monitors, searching for any hint of a presence in the hallways and dressing rooms. There were some actors beginning to mill about the main dressing room, but aside from them the area seemed relatively deserted.

"Thermographs?" Naru asked.

"Nothing," Lin replied.

"Hmm." Naru surveyed the monitor a little longer. "What about the place where Mai fell? Is that still colder than the surrounding area?"

Lin nodded. "By two degrees Celsius."

"Keep an eye on that. Bou-san and Ayako should be getting back soon…." Naru turned to Mai. "What do you think, Mai?"

"Eh?" Inwardly, Mai winced. Not the most intelligent of answers, but the question had been unexpected and thrown her for a loop for the vital two seconds following his question. "What do you mean?"

"What do you think?" Naru repeated. "Do you sense anything, anything at all?"

"Why not ask Masako? She's better at that sort of thing than I am."

Naru took a breath, and for a moment, Mai's heart stuttered as several things that he _could_ say flashed through her head. After all, this was Naru, and he never singled anyone out in this way unless he had a reason.

"Because you were the one whatever this is targeted first," he said briskly.

_Ah. _Mai sighed. _Of course, it's about work. Still, I should have expected that, shouldn't I? I know Naru well, after all. It's always about work with him._

"I can't tell," she said. "What happened down in the cellar was too quick for me to see anything, and by the time I got up again, whatever had been there was gone or hiding." She looked Naru straight in the eye; it was the best way to let him know that she was telling the truth. "Since then….I haven't sensed anything unusual."

Naru nodded. "Very well, then," he said. "We'll wait and see what Matsuzaki-san and Bou-san turn up."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

When the actors arrived, Naru sat down with the three who had been reported to have seen the extra shadows on the wall. Mai glanced around at the three, making sure she had remembered their names properly. Takahashi Jun'ichi—the eldest at forty years of age, he was, so far as she had seen, calm and quiet, with a soft way of speaking. His hair was long and still almost fully black, with only a few streaks of white here and there. Inoue Shinji—he was younger, somewhere in his mid-thirties, with a more powerful build than the older man. He was tapping his fingers, impatient to be done with this. And lastly, Izumi Ken'ichi—he was the youngest, probably in his early twenties, possibly even his teens, with tangled dark hair and a friendly smile.

Naru, typically, began his questioning almost immediately after he had greeted the three men. "I've heard that the three of you witnessed unusual shadows on the walls in this theater."

All three men exchanged a glance. It was Inoue-san who spoke up, his voice deep and carrying. "What is it you want to know?" he asked, sounding suspicious.

Naru's face remained unreadable. "Tell me about it. The time, the circumstances?"

Another glance passed between the three, and Inoue-san said, slowly, "It was late, after the performance."

Mai took this down quickly, glad at least that hours of listening to and taking notes on lectures for last years finals had rendered her a somewhat efficient note-taker, with reasonably legible handwriting.

"I was changing from my costume to street clothes," Inoue-san went on. "And once I was changed, I took the costume and hung it up in the closet, which is next to a storeroom—we keep broken masks in there, when they're waiting to be repaired."

Mai remembered the storeroom above the basement room and shuddered, involuntarily. Eerily, it was almost as if she knew what came next.

"I heard a sound in the storeroom," Inoue-san went on. "It sounded as though someone was walking about inside, so I went to have a look.

"It was empty, but for the masks and other things, so I turned to leave, but something caught my eye."

Mai's breath caught in her chest. _Two shadows, _she thought, remembering her encounter in the basement.

"I turned. I had snapped off the light in the storeroom, so the light was to my back." Inoue-san took a breath. "When I turned, I saw my shadow in the beam of light, as one might expect, but as I watched…."

Mai had to remind herself to keep on taking notes.

"As I watched, it was as though another shadow appeared beside mine. It was insubstantial, and only there for a brief moment, but then it…moved."

"Moved? In what way?"

Inoue-san gulped. "It…it stretched out a hand, as if…. as if it wanted something."

"And? What happened then?"

Inoue-san snorted. "I did what any of us would do. I—"

"—shut the door and ran?" Izumi-san said, quite cheerfully.

Inoue-san rounded on the younger man. "You have no respect for your elders, do you? What would you have done better, Izumi-kun?"

Izumi-kun shrugged. "I saw it too, remember?"

"And what exactly did you do?" Inoue-san asked scornfully.

There was a moment of silence.

"I…uh….I sort of… backed off," Izumi-kun admitted. "I didn't see it as strongly as Inoue-san—it didn't move or anything—but it was still kind of freaky, y'know?"

"You all saw it in the same place?"

Takahashi-san nodded. "The storeroom is the only place anyone has seen it, as far as I know, Shibuya-kun."

"You said there was a noise, Inoue-san. What sort of noise was it?"

"I told you already," Inoue-san snapped. "It sounded as though someone was walking inside, Pacing up and down."

Mai glanced up from her notes.

"Inoue-san, did you….did you feel anything?" she blurted out, ignoring Naru's warning glance. "Did the shadow actually reach out and touch you?"

An expression passed over the man's face, something a little like fear, a little like anger. "No," he said, too forcefully and too quickly. "No. I…. I left before I saw anything more than it reaching out to me."

"How can a shadow touch anyone, anyway?" Izumi-kun asked.

Mai glanced at Naru, saw his eyes flick towards her. _He sees it too. Cant anybody give the facts straight around here?_

"Thank you, Takahashi-san, Inoue-san, Izumi-kun, for your time," he said, crisply. "If any of you see or hear anything else, please inform me or one of my assistants." He stood. "Mai?"

"Coming." Mai flipped her notebook shut, tucked the pen she had used into the metal spirals so that it wouldn't get lost, and followed Naru out.

They were silent as they walked back to the base room. Naru's hand was on the doorknob when he spoke.

"Watch closely during the performance tonight, and try not to fall asleep," he said, his tone slightly sardonic.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ayako had no idea how she'd managed to get stuck with this.

She surveyed the darkened basement with her flashlight, repressing the shivers that went down her spine as its beam made odd, flickering shadows on the wall. Behind her, that idiot monk was poking about under the stairs, making enough noise to rouse a sleeping dragon. Ayako ignored him and concentrated on getting a look at every corner. There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary, aside from dust, cobwebs, and the camera that had been set up in the middle of the room, angled so that the entire room, including the stairs, was caught in its beam.

Something clanked behind her, and she turned about to snap at her erstwhile partner, only to yelp as a pale hand reached out from beneath the stair where Mai had fallen, gripping the edge of the stair for support. Automatically, she raised a hand, ready to perform the kuji if she had to.

"Hey, Ayako-chan. It's just me. Calm down."

Anger replaced fear as Bou-san withdrew his hand from the stair, to be replaced by a flashlight beam.

"You idiot, what are you doing back there? We should go back upstairs. There's nothing down here."

"You didn't seem so certain a minute ago, did you?" He sounded absent, as though he wasn't really thinking about what he was saying. _As much as he ever does, that is. _"Ayako, come over here."

Ayako approached the stairs suspiciously, on her guard now. _Fool. If there really was anything back there, he'd be risking his own stupid neck by crawling around. _She lifted the beam of her flashlight.

"What is it?"

The monk was crouched under the stairs, his head brushing the step above him. The area under the stairs was as dusty as the corners were, except for the places where he had swiped it clean with what appeared to be his T-shirt hem.

He pointed to the wall. "There used to be hinges here," he said. "Probably some sort of cupboard space."

Ayako was doubtful. "And this has so much relevance to the investigation, I'm sure."

"Better than anything you've turned up so far," he responded.

"Get out of there and let me take a look around."

Bou-san rolled his eyes, but obeyed, unfolding himself from beneath the stairs. Ayako found it easier to get into the space—she was shorter and slighter than he was—and she let her beam roam over the dark corners. There didn't appear to be anything at all.

"Found anything yet, Ayako?" The monk sounded nervous.

"You know, if you'd shut up, I'd probably find mo—"Ayako's breath caught sharply in her throat as something red caught the light of her flashlight. Carefully, gently, she reached out to touch it, and instantly jumped back, all of her senses on the alert.

"Ayako? Is everything all right?"

Ayako had to swallow twice before she could speak. "Did you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

_He couldn't hear it? _"Never mind. I thought I heard something, but it was probably just rodents." She reached out again, and touched the square of red silk that had somehow survived through time and renovation. This time, she heard nothing.

"Um…would you come over here? I think I've found something."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"So? What do you think?"

Naru shrugged lightly in response to Ayako's question. "It looks like a piece of cloth to me."

Ayako took a deep breath, but before she could speak, Naru picked up the piece of red silk, embroidered over in gold. "Mai, go and see if this matches any of the actors kimonos. If it does, then we know where it came from."

Mai took the piece of fabric from his hands, and saw Ayako's eyes turn to her. Briefly, she wondered what the miko was looking at her like that for—searching, as though she expected her to react in some way. Shrugging it off, she turned, taking a step towards the door.

It was then that she heard it. A low humming, melodic and gentle, but melancholy—like a sad lullaby, the woman's voice sounding half-choked by tears. She promptly dropped the cloth in surprise.

"Lin-san? The microphone—"

"What about it?" Naru asked.

_Cant they hear it? _"Cant you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

It was already fading. She shook her head. "That humming." She turned to face them, only to find that they were all staring at her, Bou-san looking quizzical, Naru expressionless. Even Lin was looking at her, as though she had said something mildly interesting. "Just a moment ago, someone—something—was humming. Didn't you hear it?"

Bou-san shook his head. "We haven't picked up anything on the microphones since they were put in place."

Mai shook her head. "I heard it," she insisted. Not a one of them said a word. "I did!"

"Mai-chan, there _wasn't anything—_"

"Leave her alone!" Mai hadn't expected Ayako to back her up—the miko had been gaping at her this whole time, as though she'd grown an extra head. "How would you know? I'm surprised you can hear your own playing half the time—"

"Huh, me? It's you who talks too loudly to hear anything else…."

"You--!"

"Matsuzaki-san." Lin spoke quietly, but Bou-san and Ayako both fell silent, glaring at one another. "Please refrain from killing Takigawa-san for a moment while we listen to what Taniyama-san has to say."

Naru turned to Mai, his face impassive. "Can you still hear it?" he asked.

Mai frowned. "No. No, I cant. Not anymore." The memory of it looped through her head, inexorably, even though she could no longer hear it. There had been so much sadness in it, as though the singer had lost something precious to her. She frowned down at the cloth in her hands as she thought. _Why cant they hear it? _

"Masako," she said, suddenly, startling the others in the room. "Has anyone seen Masako?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"What are the two of you doing?" Yasuhara asked as John beckoned him into the storeroom. "I thought Shibuya-san—"

John put a finger to his lips. "Hara-san wanted a look at the place. Don't worry—Shibuya-san tends to underestimate his worker's ability, y'know?" The man's speech had evened out in a bit in the year that Yasuhara had known him, with only the slightest hint of both his original Kansai Japanese and his alien accent—both of which had been an unending source of amusement for the SPR staff.

Yasuhara shrugged. He really didn't want to have to go back down there…..but really, he told himself, what was there to be afraid of?

Down in the basement, Masako and John were standing at the base of the stairs, flashlights in hand. The medium closed her eyes and let herself relax, slowly, reaching out with her spirit-sense to probe the darkness. At first she felt nothing, but as she searched, she felt the light, almost nonexistent presence at the edge of her senses, just out of reach.

"Oh, Hara-san?" The voice was too close to her ear, making her eyes fly open in surprise. "Found anything yet?"

She frowned at Yasuhara. "I'm trying," she said icily. "Perhaps if some people could live with silence for just a few minutes?"

Yasuhara shrugged. "I never much liked silence, to be honest with you. It gives me the creeps."

"Then you're in the wrong line of work." Irritated, Masako closed her eyes and tried once more, but again was unable to detect anything more concrete.

"Masako! What are you doing down there?"

"Hara-san?"

Masako opened her eyes once more and looked up. Naru was standing at the head of the stairs, Mai beside him. Naru was opening his mouth to say something, but—predictably, Masako thought—Mai cut him off, asking hurriedly, "Do you sense anything?"

Masako shook her head. "No," she said.

"Hear anything?" Was it just her, or was Mai being even more outspoken than usual? Masako surveyed the other girl, noting the expression on her face, the color rising in her cheeks.

Masako shook her head again, making her dark hair swing across her face. "No," she said. "I hear nothing."

The look on Mai's face changed, to something akin to fear. _She can sense something we cant, _Masako realized, _and she's afraid we wont believe her. _

It was Naru who broke the silence.

"All of you come upstairs," he said, and left it at that. Masako noticed the way he brushed past Mai on his way up, ignoring her, obviously lost in his own thoughts. She almost felt sorry for the other girl—she looked positively miserable, and Masako knew how she felt.

Maybe, she would think later, that was what had led her to reach out to her rival and place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry," she told her. "This is part of being psychic. If what you sense is true, then it'll all work out in time. Ours is not a biddable talent."

Mai opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it and nodded.

_She's right, _she told herself. _You haven't got anything to worry about._

Still, she couldn't help but wonder.

**A/N—Finally! This chapter is now finished *dies***

***comes back to life thanks to Ghost Hunt Volume 10 scanlation***

**I'd like to thank my reviewers: Kyia Star (not only a faithful reviewer, but a most inspiring author to read. Many thanks for the latest update on Dancing Queen!), Rena1, Lady Light, canadianviolet, Lewnuhkkau, bladzesword, Crunch Berry Baroness, hfs9c1, misskoneko, and Baby Kangaroo. **

**Musical credits for this chapter: Jigoku Nagashi (from the anime Jigoku Shoujo, which I have never watched, but there was a Ghost Hunt amv to it on YouTube and it was just a perfect creepy piece) and Mercedes' Lullaby from the Pan's Labyrinth soundtrack.**

**Enjoy! Next up….the performance…**


	5. The Performance

**The Performance**

_Day 1--19:30_

"Mai." Naru's voice was quiet, but even with all of the babble surrounding them in the half-lit theater he could still make himself heard to the part-timer. "If you keep on twisting your head around like that you're going to do yourself an injury."

Mai took a break in her gawking to turn and give him a look that dared him to say anymore. Unfortunately, Naru and Lin together had long ago patented the Glare of Death and thus, her own scarcely made the young man blink.

She gave up on it and returned to drinking in every aspect of the theater. The renovation had been well-done—as far as she could tell, with her limited experience of such things. The pavilion-like stage loomed over the rows of seats, its polished wood shining in the soft light of the spotlights. On the back was the kagami-ita, its freshly enameled colors bright. The stage attendants, dressed in black, would come out every now and again to test lighting or angle, then return to the backstage area. All in all, Mai thought, this was somewhat of a fresh and exciting experience. _Even if I don't like Sato-san all that much, it's nice that he offered this to us. _

Beside her, Ayako folded her arms and leaned back. Mai wasn't sure what the miko was still simmering about, but it seemed as though she had grown even testier than usual after their arrival here, and—unusually enough—she had scarcely said a word since that incident with the humming. Bou-san, in a misguided attempt to mend her bad mood, had offered her his arm with exaggerated politeness as they entered the theater; she had smacked his hand hard enough to make him yelp, drawing disapproving glances from Masako and Naru—Mai thought it best that Bou-san sit on her and Yasuhara's other side for now, to avoid any blood being shed during the performance. Mai had tried to leave the seat beside her open—in case, she reasoned, Naru might not mind sitting by her, although it would be substantially harder to concentrate on what was going on onstage—but he had taken a seat on Bou-san's other side, and since Yasuhara had arrived at that moment, Masako had—quite conveniently, Mai thought with just a hint of bitterness—seated herself beside him, her hands folded primly in her lap. _I shouldn't be angry at her this much. I mean, she did try to be polite to me at least…. Still, though, she does have a way of getting on my nerves….. _John arrived a little late and took his place beside Masako, muttering something about being caught in a crowd outside the restroom—and Lin-san was seated on Ayako's other side. He was either ignoring her bad temper or he just didn't notice it—it was hard to tell, this being Lin-san, after all. Mai had thought that this, at least, might mend Ayako's temper a little—but to no avail, as she only cast the tall onmyouji a scathing look as he sat down and then ignored him. Hopefully, she would get over her sulking soon—she was starting to wear on Mai's patience almost as much as Masako.

"Hey, Mai-san," Yasuhara murmured. "Have you ever seen a Noh play? You know anything about them?"

Mai shrugged. "I've done a few research papers, for history, and I know a little bit about the structure and everything, but I've never seen one performed. Why, have you?"

"Once, my mother took me. She's really into theater, has a whole bunch of books on it and everything." The boy grinned. "I had half a mind to bring her here. She'd totally love this place, and her and Sato-san could have a couple of long talks about all the places he's been….but then again, she'd never want to leave, so…"

"Will the two of you be quiet?" Ayako hissed. "You're giving me a headache with all of your chatter."

Mai had to bite her lip to avoid snapping at the older woman. _What's her problem? _Now that she looked at her, Ayako did look a little pale; she was frowning, her brows knit over her eyes. "Ayako, are you all right?" she asked.

"Fine," Ayako grumbled. "The only thing wrong with me is you people."

Mai was going to say more—a scathing remark, most probably, as she didn't at all appreciate the way Ayako was treating her—but at that moment the lights came down, and Mai—along with the rest of the rest of the audience—fell silent as the musicians played their first notes and the _waki_—a travelling priest—entered, along with a black-garbed stage assistant carrying a stand with a pine sapling set into it. He stood aside, and Mai realized as he retreated from the light, that it was Izumi-kun. He looked calm and careful, standing out of the way and watching as the priest began his chant.

Mai tried to remember the plot of this particular play as she watched… it was about two sisters, who had loved a Councilor who had left them and died, far away. They had been bound to the earth by their love for him and their longing for life, and as Mai watched, she felt as though this ought to mean something, although she wasn't sure what….as the sisters sang of their lost love and of the moon they so wished to capture in their water pails, Mai was riveted, unable to move. Matsukaze, she remembered, was the elder sister's name—this had been one of the plays she had studied, although much of it hadn't stuck.

There was enough noise with the musicians and the actors that it took Mai a moment to hear the humming.

She clenched her fists in her lap and glanced sideways at the others. Masako was looking straight ahead, her eyes fixed on the stage, but Mai saw the way she was fiddling restlessly with her kimono's edge. Yasuhara and Bou-san didn't appear to have sensed anything at all, even though it sounded to Mai as though the woman was there, beside her. She glanced at Ayako, and saw that the miko's face had gone dead white—whatever Mai was hearing, Ayako could hear it too. Mai wondered if she ought to say something, then decided against it. If it grew any stronger, she reasoned, the others would be able to sense it anyways. Besides, she was fairly sure that this woman—or she thought it was a woman, anyhow, from the way it sounded—was harmless.

The humming faded a little as the play moved on apace, Matsukaze's madness descending upon her as she mourned for her lost lover, then grew stronger, ringing in Mai's ears louder than ever before. She glanced sideways again at Ayako—the miko hadn't moved since the last time Mai had glanced over—and then at Lin-san, whose face was expressionless. Mai took a deep breath, felt it catch in her chest, and tried to take another. This time, she succeeded, but the oxygen didn't seem to help much—the humming and the music swirled together, a cacophony in her head, making her temples pound. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back onto the seat, fighting another wave of disorientation as her head surged. _Just for a moment, _she told herself. _I just need a moment to get ahold of this. _

But when she opened her eyes, it was to the familiar emptiness of her dreamscape.

Glancing around in the darkness, she did realize that something was different. For once, she was alone. For some reason, this made her more than a little uneasy.

"Naru?"

Her own voice echoed back at her. Mai searched the darkness for his familiar form, but there was nothing—just blackness, and the pool of light, and her. She shivered. "Naru?"

Mist swirled around her, and when it cleared, she was standing in the storeroom over the basement, and she was not alone—there was a young woman there, standing with her back to her, her long black hair put up in elaborate coils and loops about her face. There was an ivory comb tucked into her elaborate hairstyle; her kimono was fine, cinched tightly around her waist, the embroidered silk tracing faint outlines on the floor. Her quiet sobs were the only sound.

_So this is one of those dreams. If so, where is he? _As Mai watched, the woman's sobs changed pitch and timbre, until she was humming through her tears, and with a jolt, Mai recognized the tune.

The woman lifted her head, still humming, tears running down her perfect face, long lashes framing dark eyes. She clutched something in her hand—it appeared to be a bit of silk, red as blood between her pale fingers. Her other hand went to her obi and pulled out what was concealed there—a knife, a little longer than her hand, with a nondescript leather-covered hilt. Her fingers tightened around it, and she lifted the knife so that the blade caught the light. Still humming, she looked up, placed the edge of her knife against her throat and closed her teary eyes. Her fingers tightened on the hilt until her knuckles were white as her humming increased in pitch and intensity…..

Mai realized what the woman was going to do an instant before she did it. She managed to cover her eyes in time that she didn't have to see it, but she still heard the terrible sound the woman made as the sharp edge of the blade cut into her throat, her humming gargling to an abrupt halt.

Mai opened her eyes to blood, and the woman's empty, staring eyes.

For a moment, she could do nothing but try and make sense of the scene before her. Her stomach rebelled, and she had to breathe deeply to keep from vomiting. _Why? Why did she do what she did, and why here? Why now? _

Mist swirled around her, and she swirled with it until her surroundings solidified into the theater, as it was in this present day and as seen from the roof. Her astral body was as light and insubstantial as air; she twirled and glided easily though the room, over the stage—viewing the room from above was still a fascinating feeling, she thought, before she remembered that this wasn't good. _I was travelling? But I thought….it was just one of the dreams…._

She drifted downward until she was directly above her own body. She looked small and weak from up here, slumped against Yasuhara-san's shoulder. Ayako was shaking her—she wondered dimly how long she'd been out—and Lin-san was looking over at her too, his eyes alert under his dark bangs. Mai barely had time to wonder if he could sense her—he was, after all, able to communicate with his five spirit servants, most likely on a different plane—before she was suddenly and disorienting-ly back in her body.

"Mai? Mai!" Ayako was still shaking her, hissing her name under her breath. Mai opened her eyes and felt her stomach surge; she closed them again, swallowing to try and suppress her nausea. It didn't help that the image of the woman in the storeroom was still so clearly etched in her brain.

"Mai-san!"

"Taniyama-san?"

Mai opened her eyes again and looked at them both, Ayako's hand still on her shoulder, Lin just behind her. Yasuhara was still holding her up, keeping her limp body from sliding to the floor.

"I need to get out," she said, weakly.

Ayako's lips oppressed into a firm line and she nodded. "We'll take you back to base. Lin-san, take her other side. Yasuhara, you get the rest of them out here as soon as this act is over, okay?"

Yasuhara nodded. Mai felt the miko tug gently on her right arm until she was more or less upright—Lin-san took her other arm, and between the two of them supporting her, she managed to hobble out into the cool, misty night air. She took great breaths of it, sinking shakily down against the door frame. Out here, she couldn't hear the humming, and she was grateful for it—it allowed her a moment to breathe and try to blank out the images form the vision she had just had, as well as regain her ability to operate in her physical body after the weightlessness of spirit travel. She was aware of Ayako and Lin-san staring at her, and she knew what they wanted, but she wasn't ready to talk about it just yet. She needed a minute before she had to tell them. Thankfully, they seemed to understand—at least, neither of them had said anything yet.

Ayako left after a moment and returned with a bottle of water, still cold from being in the freezer in the dressing room. "Here," she said, handing the bottle to Mai. "Drink. Not too fast, or you'll be sick. If you can, you should eat a little something too, but let's not push it just yet."

Mai took a sip of the water. Her wooziness was starting to fade, her head clearing with the cool night air. "How long was I out?" she asked.

Ayako shrugged. "I don't know, maybe ten minutes?"

"Fifteen," Lin-san corrected.

"Fifteen, whatever." Obviously, Ayako was slipping back into her bad mood again. "If you're so clever, you can answer the question next time."

Inwardly, Mai groaned. _What's wrong with her? She's being downright rude. I wish she'd get over whatever's troubling her quickly._

"I believe I did answer her question," Lin-san pointed out amiably, as though he was chatting about the weather with John and not verbally sparring with an already-irritated Ayako.

Ayako's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything, Quiet, Lin-san might be, but when he was talking—watch out. Apparently, even Ayako wasn't foolhardy enough to argue with him…..

"Well, bully for you."

…..or not. Mai sighed inwardly and tried to stand. She was a little shaky on her feet, but not nearly as bad as she had felt when the vision first took her.

She heard the sound of the crowd from the theater filing out to their vehicles and realized that the play must be over. _Oh, well. At least I saw the first part. It's not the first time this has happened, anyways. _A few minutes later, she heard the voices of the others as they split off from the main body of the crowd and headed for base. As they came into view, she saw that Bou-san, at least, looked more than a little worried; Yasuhara-san, too. Her gaze wondered over the rest of them and fixed on Naru and John, who were supporting a kimono-clad figure in much the same way as Lin-san and Ayako had her, one of them gripping each of Masako's arms to keep her upright. The medium's face was the color of sour milk, her lips tinged with green. Her eyes were very wide, and Mai knew when she looked at her that she had seen the same vision.

"Are you all right, Mai-san?" Yasuhara asked as they approached. He pushed his glasses up his nose and offered her a shaky grin before saying, in an undertone, "We weren't sure if you'd survive the wrath of Matsuzaki-san much longer."

Mai had to bite her lip to keep from giggling. _This isn't the time or the place for frivolity_, she thought, and then winced at how Naru-ish that sounded.

Speaking of Naru…. He was still helping support Masako, who was clinging to him like some sort of limpet. _No, this isn't the time or place for jealousy, either, _she told herself.

"Masako—"

"It can wait," Naru said, tersely. "John, help me get her inside. The rest of you, follow." His face was set, and he was giving orders now in the typical Naru fashion—without allowing anyone to argue with him. For a brief moment, Mai wondered if Naru was actually concerned for Masako, who appeared to be much more badly affected by the vision than Mai, then dismissed the notion when she saw the look in his eyes.

It meant that he would solve this case, no matter what was thrown their way.

Mai sighed inwardly—_Here we go again_—and followed the others into the building.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Silence fell in the base room after Mai finished her account, leaving out the fact that she had been out of her body—she had never had any problem getting back before, after all, and so she didn't think it was that much of a big deal. She looked around at the others—they all appeared to be considering what she'd said, except for Masako, who was leaning her head back against the wall, taking slow, deep breaths.

After a moment, Naru asked, "Is this what you saw, Hara-san?"

Masako nodded. "Yes," she said. "I can still sense her from here, but not nearly so strong as in the theater." She took another ragged breath and opened her eyes. "She's lost, and she isn't sure why."

"From what Mai-san said, it sounds as though she committed suicide," John piped up. "That sort of sin can bind you forever."

"That's not the only thing, Brown-san." _Masako must be getting her strength back_, Mai thought wryly. _She's certainly regaining her usual condescension quickly. _"There's something more. I can't tell what—she was very confused."

"Can you sense anything else?" Naru asked her.

Masako shrugged. "She's not the only spirit in these walls, but she's the only one calling out for help like this. If they have anything to do with this, the others will reveal themselves very soon."

There was another silence, which Ayako broke. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I'd like to get some sleep at some point tonight."

"About that, Matsuzaki-san," Naru said smoothly. "I'd like everyone to stay on site for this case. Even, and especially, during the night."

"That's not going to work. Where are we going to sleep?" Ayako gestured at the dressing room, crammed as it was with their equipment. "We can barely fit all our monitors in here."

"I thought we'd be able to fit you three girls in the back of the van. Bou-san, John, and Yasuhara are sleeping in the storeroom.

_Oh gods, _Mai thought. _ Here we go again._

"The VAN?!"

**A/N—I'm not sure how pleased I am with this chapter, but it was mostly supposed to be a bridge to the next day of the file, so it was a bit of a placeholder chapter.**

_**Matsukaze **_**is a Noh play about two sisters who are bound to the earth by their love for a Councillor who has left them and died. A travelling monk happens upon the place where their spirits are bound and tries to free them; Matsukaze, the eldest sister, descends into madness, mistakes a pine tree for her lover, and fails to move on—Murasame, her younger sister, accepts what has happened and is cleansed. **

**Musical inspiration for this chapter goes to: Miscellaneous tracks from the Ghost Hunt OST, Jigoku Nagarashi from Jigoku Shojo, "Tempus Vernum" and "Evening Falls" by Enya, Sorcery and Sudden Vengeance from the Prince Caspian Soundtrack, Mercedes Lullaby from the Pan's labyrinth soundtrack, as well as "Hot Knives" by Bright Eyes and "Sylvia Plath" by Ryan Adams. Don't ask—they don't really have much to do with the chapter, but they had the sound I was looking for, so….**

**Many thanks to my reviewers: Kyia Star, Crunch Berry Baroness, Kay (I'm so sorry I left you out last time—I was operating on about five hours of sleep and I had a lot of reviews on that chapter, so somehow I missed yours. Gomen nasai ^_^), canadianviolet, BabyKangaroo, and YunaNeko. You guys keep me motivated, which is a task, trust me.**

**Oh, and the pace of the story is slowing down a bit now—I'm keeping it suspenseful, but I need some time to maneuver romance and mystery and all those other things in a way that makes sense, which I can't do if the plot keeps on at the pace it's at. So yeah, more romance and mystery next chapter, less immediate action.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own this, obviously. I don't even own the DVDs *sob***


	6. Day 2

**Day 2**

Mai opened her eyes slowly, to the darkness of her dreamscape.

This time, she was standing in the pool of light, but she wasn't alone. He was standing with his back to her, certainly, but at least he was there—it soothed her fears that she might be about to experience another horrific vision alone.

"Naru?" she said, almost too quietly for her to hear herself.

He turned to face her, his eyes soft under his bangs. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean for you to be alone when you saw that."

Mai shook her head. "I'm alright."

"Good," he said, reaching across the distance between them and clasping her hand gently in his. "What you saw is important, but it's not the only piece to this case."

"I didn't think it would be," Mai said dryly.

"I suppose not." His hand tightened a little on hers. "Watch, and remember."

The scene around them shifted, darkness dissolving into light, light into darkness, until what was before them was clear. It was some sort of hill, grassy and dappled with sunlight—below, there appeared to be some sort of village or settlement—perhaps the same town, Mai realized, that the theater was in today. The air was fresh and crisp, and the breeze rippled gently through the grasses and around the silken kimono of the girl who Mai had seen in her previous vision. She was gazing into the distance, her face happier than before—she looked expectant, and she was humming a little tune under her breath, jaunty and lilting, not the terrible, haunting lullaby that she had heard before.

As Mai watched, she saw the girl's face light up even more as she smiled, her gaze fixed on the tall, slender young man climbing up the hill. He looked something like Izumi-kun—he had dark hair, cropped short, and a wide smile that showed slightly crooked front teeth. His eyes were calm. He spread his arms wide as he came closer to the girl, who laughed and allowed him to enfold her in his embrace.

"Who is he?" Mai asked.

Naru shook his head. "I'm not sure."

They watched a moment more before Naru tugged gently on Mai's hand. "You must return now," he told her.

"Why?"

"You must," he repeated, and his hand tightened on hers.

The scene before them swirled and changed, the abruptness of it dazzling Mai and leaving her unable to see for a moment more. When her vision cleared, she saw that they were inside of a room now—it seemed old, and Mai guessed that this was still years before the present time. Six tatami mats covered the floor—a mattress was laid against one wall, the blankets covering the form of an old woman, her face thin and bony, her skin wrinkled like an old apple. She turned her head weakly as Mai looked on, opened her eyes—

And stared right at her, as though transfixed. There was no doubt that she could see her.

Naru's hand tightened on hers. "Go back," he urged her. "Go back, now."

"Kaoru?" The old woman's voice was weak and cracked, and for some reason, it sent a cold prickle of fear down Mai's back.

Naru took Mai's chin and gently turned her face so that her eyes met his. "Go," he said.

"But—"

"Go! I'll answer questions later."

Mai was taken aback by the unusual fierceness in his voice. _Best do as he says, then, _she thought with an internal sigh. _Even if it means that I'll have to wait for answers._

"Kaoru?" The old woman raised herself half up on her elbow, her voice growing frantic as the scene drew farther away from Mai. "Kaoru!"

And she was away from the scene—at first, she thought she might have woken up, but when she realized that she wasn't in the van, where she had gone to sleep, she dismissed that thought from her mind and looked around her, picking out the shapes of a bookcase, a desk and computer, from the shadows around her. She was in Sato-san's office, she realized—it looked that way, anyway.

_Out of body again? Unless I was sleepwalking….but no. I wouldn't have been able to get past Ayako and open the door if I was asleep. I think. And why here? _

She moved forward to touch the desk—her insubstantial form merely melted into the dark wood. She snatched her hand back. _That's never happened before. I have to get back. _None of her co-workers had ever really told her what happened to those who stayed out of body too long, but she had heard enough vague whispers to be wary of the consequences.

Only, as she discovered when she was hovering over her own sleeping form in the van, getting back was going to be easier said than done. That had never been a problem either—she had travelled and returned almost instinctually, trusting in her intuition to tell her what to do. Her mind kept wandering, making it hard for her to concentrate; she yanked it back to the task at hand, narrowing her eyes at her own body. Now that she looked closer, it was as though there was some sort of film wrapped around her—not really a barrier, more like a veil that rippled and shed her spirit like droplets of water. She took a deep breath, willing herself not to panic, and wondered what she should do. _I wonder…..would the kuji work on this? It's not really a spirit, from what I can tell—besides, Masako's lying right there, she would sense it. Still, it's worth a try. _

She raised her hand in her warding and began. "Rin! Pyou! Tou! Shah! Kai! Retsu! Zai! Zen!" She felt the resistance the moment she started—it was like moving her hand through syrup or water instead of air. Her tongue fumbled the words in her mouth—by the time she reached the last one, her arm was trembling with the effort it took to move through the air. There was a moment afterward in which nothing happened—then, quite suddenly, the barrier gave in and dissipated, leaving only the lingering remnants of its presence in the air.

Mai's eyes snapped open, and she stared at the dark fabric ceiling of the van a moment to get her bearings. She was unmistakably back, and it took a moment for her to become accustomed once more to the heaviness of her physical body. Her head was still buzzing with questions. _Who's Kaoru? Who was the old woman? And why couldn't I get back to my body as easily as I normally would?_

Resigning herself to the fact that she certainly wasn't going to solve this mystery lying wrapped in a blanket in the back of the van, she sat up— on either side of her, both Ayako and Masako were still asleep. She located her duffle bags and changed her pajamas for a pair of shorts and a short sleeved top as quietly as possible, then raked a comb through her hair until she was presentable, at least. Crawling past Ayako to open the back door was slightly harder, but the older woman was still sound asleep when Mai closed the door from the outside with a gentle _snick._

It was earlier than Mai had expected, judging by the light—it was probably around 7:30 AM, as the sun had risen but not quite gained it's full strength. She proceeded to the base room—the sound of muted clicking could be heard from inside, even at this hour of the morning. _Do they never sleep?_

Mai pushed the door open, slightly surprised to find the base room empty except for Lin, typing rapidly as he checked over the night before's data—she had expected Naru would be there. _He wasn't in the van with us. He might be sleeping, in the storeroom with the other guys, but I doubt it—he never sleeps in. Oh well. He'll turn up eventually._

"'Morning, Lin-san," she said, cheerfully.

The older assistant's fingers paused in their typing. "Good morning, Taniyama-san."

_Hmm. His talking skills have gotten better recently, at least. _"Sorry, you're busy."

"Not really." Lin turned his chair a little, so that he could face her. "I've been checking over last night's data, but there doesn't really appear to be anything." Correctly interpreting the look on her face, he added, "It's not at all unusual."

"I know." _But it's hardly helping convince you all that I'm not crazy and I actually have been sensing something is it? _Changing the subject, she asked, "Where's Naru gone off too?"

"He said he was going to go and take a look at something." Lin shrugged. "That's all he told me."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Typical," she muttered, just loud enough to be heard. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lin's lips twitch upward in one of his rare smiles. "Well, I'll be off then. Would you like some tea?"

He nodded. "If you don't mind, Taniyama-san."

"It's my job, isn't it?"

He had turned back to his monitors. "I suppose so," he said, vaguely.

_Ah, well. There was a time when I wouldn't have even gotten that much out of him at a time. _Mai proceeded down the hall to Sato-san's office—hopefully, the man wouldn't be there yet and she could slip in and out without much trouble. _That is the upside to working for workaholics, _she thought as she waited for the water to heat. _Other people never expect you to be working before they are. _She glanced around Sato-san's office—everything seemed as it had been yesterday, nothing out of place. _Maybe I'm just paranoid or something—there doesn't seem to be any reason that Sato-san should give me the creeps so badly. _

She was about to leave the room when she saw it.

Hung against one of walls was an old kimono, antique in style and fabric. Mai wondered how she hadn't noticed it before—maybe it was a new adornment for Sato-san's walls, obtained since the last time she had been in this office. The pattern was bright, gold on a red background—the gold thread formed the coiling shapes of dragons and other creatures of legend. A piece of glass had been placed over it, framed by strips of dark wood—the silk was old and easily soiled or damaged by everyday dirt.

Mai came closer, then reached out hesitantly to touch the glass. _It matches, _she thought, her heart pounding half out of fear, half out of thrill. _It matches the fragment we found in the basement. The one that didn't match with anything in the actor's dressing room. _

The gentle beeping sound of the coffeemaker brought her back to herself—she turned her back on the kimono and headed over to the machine in the corner. When she finished pouring the three cups of tea, she glanced back at it. _ Probably it's not so very important, _she thought. _Still, we should check it out._

"Taniyama-san?"

Mai spun about to see Sato-san standing in the doorway, looking a little bemused. He pushed his glasses up and said, "What are you up to this early?"

_Is it your business? _"Just getting hot water for tea, Sato-san. Sorry to be in here so early."

"Well, I must confess I am rather surprised." He offered her a friendly grin as he sat down in his chair. "You're a bit young to be working so early."

Mai shrugged. "I'm an early riser," she lied through her teeth.

"Really? That's good." Sato-san followed her gaze to the kimono. "You like it? I just obtained it the other day, from an antiques dealer in the town, actually. Apparently it's been being passed down through some family or another in this area for years, and it seemed like an interesting historical artifact. So I bought it rather than let it moulder."

Mai nodded. "Yes," she said, continuing to stare at the kimono rather than look at the man before her.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but something about this entire situation seemed wrong, surreal, and for some reason, that frightened her more than anything else had ever done.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Naru said nothing when Mai told him about the kimono, only gazed thoughtfully into his tea for a moment before quietly asking Lin what data had been gathered the night before. _So as I thought, it's not so very important. _

"So, do we get breakfast?" Bou-san asked, plaintively. "Before work, I mean."

They were gathered in the base room, Ayako and Masako both awake and dressed. Ayako had even had time to do her makeup again. John and Yasuhara still appeared to be somewhat asleep still—since they were nursing cups of coffee, Mai hoped that they would be more alert soon.

Naru didn't seem to consider Bou-san's request a very relevant one. He took a sip of his tea and regarded the monk over the rim of his cup. "If all you're concerned about is your stomach, Bou-san, please indulge yourself so that we can get _something_ else done today."

"You say it like it's nothing," the monk muttered, searching the pockets of his jeans for his car keys. "I won't expect any thanks when I bring food back for your ungrateful self."

"I'll go with you," Yasuhara piped up. "After all, it's so rare now that I get to spend any time with you—"

"Oh, shut it," Ayako grumbled as they dispersed. "Do you always have to do that?"

"What?"

Ayako rolled her eyes. "All of your nonsense about being in love with that idiot."

"Oh, but I am," Yasuhara insisted, then appeared to think for a moment. "Are you jealous, Matsuzaki-san? Because, you know, you're not bad yourself, for your age."

"For my age?! How old do you think I _am_?"

_Here we go again, _Mai thought with a sigh.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The day started warm and breezy, but then thick, dark clouds rolled in off the coast to cover the sun, and by lunchtime, it was raining steadily outside. The rhythmic sound of it on the roof made Mai feel drowsy—the fact that she was sitting at base with very little to do wasn't helping, but Naru had ordered her to stay put when he had left with Masako and John to investigate some more. The only sound aside from the rain was Lin's keyboard clicking.

It was the perfect time, she thought, to ask Lin the question she had been pondering for most of the day. She had briefly considered asking Naru, but just as quickly set that thought aside—he was likely to not even give her an answer, and if he did, she would have to deal with his prying questions and sarcasm. Bou-san probably didn't know much about shields and spirit-travel; Ayako, John, and Masako were the same. Lin, she figured, was fairly knowledgeable about such things; he was less likely to ask uncomfortable questions and more likely to give her a straight answer than Naru. _Of course, I could always try sleeping—in my dreams, Naru usually gives me better answers—but after what happened this morning, I think I'd rather stay awake a little longer._

"Lin-san? Can I ask you something?"

There was a moment of silence, then—"Yes, what is it?"

Mai kept her eyes on her fingers, folded carefully on the counter. "I wondered if you could tell me anything about spirit travel. Specifically, what happens if you get stuck out of your body and aren't able to return?"

The question was an odd one for the young part-timer, Lin thought, raising his head a little to look at her. She had her eyes focused on her hand—her little finger was tapping restlessly against the desk, and while some of her demeanor might be attributed to boredom and curiosity, there was something that hadn't settled well with the girl. _She's been like this ever since last night, _he thought, feeling the slightest twinge of worry. _Since she had the vision of the woman who died here. _

Mai bore with his silence for a moment, uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her. It was the same sharp, perceptive look he had leveled on her the night before, when she was caught in the throes of her vision—it made her feel like he knew what she wasn't letting on, or at least, a little more.

"Why do you ask?" he said after a moment, his fingers pausing their typing as he turned to look at her.

She shrugged. "Just curious."

There was a moment of silence, then Lin said, slowly, "Generally, the bond between the body and soul is severed."

"So, basically, you die." It was what she had been afraid of hearing. Her voice trembled a little on "die", before she could stop it.

"Not necessarily, but close to it." Lin watched her from the corner of his eye, gauging her reaction. Her face was studiously blank, but her voice and her hands betrayed her. _What is it she's so frightened of? _It irked him to see her this way—ever since Suwa, he had felt almost obligated to watch over the younger worker.

_Before, _his third murmured.

_What?_

_It was before Suwa. The incident in the church, do you remember that?_

Internally, he winced. He remembered it all too well. _You're probably right, _he conceded. _But I fail to see what relevance that has to our current situation._

_Of course not, _his second said, smugly.

He chose to ignore that statement and concentrate instead on Taniyama-san. She had dropped her eyes back to her hands again, and she appeared to be deep in thought, staring at her little finger as though entranced.

Mai raised her head, pushing away her fear and trepidation. _I just have to make sure it doesn't happen again, _she told herself, ignoring the tiny voice inside her that protested that she didn't know _how_. _I'll figure it out. One way or another._

"Taniyama-san? Is there something wrong?"

"Eh? No. I was just thinking," she said, forcing her voice back to its normal cheerfulness.

_It's going to be fine. Just fine. _

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_She was waiting on the hill, her kimono flapping about her legs in the breeze, the grass rippling as the late afternoon sunlight lit the scene. She scanned the hillside below her for him—tonight, he was coming to their meeting place for the last time. That woke joy in her heart—from now on they would be free, it wouldn't matter what plans anyone had for her or for him, it wouldn't matter that her mother didn't approve and that his family was long dead. They would be penniless, but their love for one another would keep through it all, she was sure._

_Only, as the sun sank slowly into the horizon, he never did come._

_She sank to the ground to wait when twilight descended around her, shivering as the wind grew colder—she clutched her cape around her and waited. He __**had **__to come. He had promised._

_She waited—for how long, she knew not--and when she finally saw the lantern, bobbing its way up the hill, she stood, his name on her lips….._

_Only it died there when she saw who it was. She sank slowly, back to the ground, her strength leaving her as sorrow ripped at her……_

"_My daughter!!"_

_The woman's wails were heartrending, as if she had just been terribly hurt. "Kaoru! Kaoru, no!!"_

"You let her sleep on the job?"

_My daughter, oh, Kaoru, why, why?_

"Don't forget what she does. What she sees. So far, the only information we've received this entire case has been from her."

_Kaoru!!_

"Mai?"

_Kaoru…._

"Mai!"

Mai opened her eyes, only a little shocked to find herself having slumped forward onto her left elbow. She straightened her back, wincing as her elbow and her neck protested. _How long was I asleep? _She glanced over and saw that the others had returned—Naru turned away from Lin briefly to look at her, his gaze uncomfortably piercing. She looked down, unsettled. _They all know there's something I'm not telling, but it can't be that big of a deal! Of course, maybe he's just angry at me for sleeping. That would be typical Naru._

"Did you find anything out?" Bou-san asked Naru.

Naru shook his head. "No, nothing beyond that which we already know. Yasuhara-san's volunteered to go in tomorrow and talk to the people of the town, as well as take a look at any records they might have that date before the restoration of this building." He frowned, his brow creasing as he checked the temperature readings. "Is this the way it's been all day?" he asked Lin.

"Yes."

"No changes at all?"

"None. "

_So we've got hardly any information, still, _Mai thought. _The shadows on the wall, though—I saw them, and so did Yasuhara-san. And the woman in my dreams… the one who…._

As if he was reading her thoughts, Naru turned to Mai. "I don't suppose you've seen or sensed anything else?"

Mai hesitated a moment, then recounted the dream she had had that morning, albeit without saying anything about being out of her body, or her difficulty in getting back. She finished with the scene that she had just borne witness to—she had no doubt whatsoever that they were from the same source as the dream she had had that morning. There was a moment of silence when she was done as they considered what she had said.

"Kaoru must be the girl," Ayako finally said. "The older woman…..could she be her mother?"

"I think so," Mai said, the image of the old woman clearly etched behind her eyes.

"And they're both still here?" Naru's voice was as cold as ever. "Why?"

Mai shook her head. "I don't know, but I think they both have a bond to this place. Kaoru…she died here." Of that, she was certain. "But I don't think her mother did."

"It doesn't matter," Masako said, authoritatively. "If she had strong regrets related to this place that would not only prevent her from passing on, but bind her here as well, as a _jibaku _spirit--" she shrugged.

"And what greater regret than to lose your child here?" Ayako added.

Naru's agreement was slow, as if his mind was somewhere else entirely. "They could be jibaku, yes."

"In which case, they can be summoned," Bou-san said. "What exactly are we waiting for, then? "

Naru turned to Masako, who nodded. "I could do it," she said, softly. "Right now, if you wanted."

Naru thought about it for a moment, tapping one long, slim finger on the counter. "Yes, now would be good. Waiting until there are more people in the building will only cause trouble. Hara-san, can you tell me where the presences are strongest?"

Masako closed her eyes a moment. "The storeroom," she said. "If Mai-san is right, that's where the girl died."

Naru nodded. "Matsuzaki-san, John—help Hara-san get ready. Lin, check the camera's configuration and make sure it's recording. Also, take a manual reading of the temperature in the room and see if it's any different than the thermograph. Mai?"

"Eh?" Mai resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _He's in fine form today. _

"Go and inform Sato-san that we will be using the storeroom and that no one is to disturb us."

Mai stopped herself from making a sound of dissent and quickly changed what she was about to say. "Yes." _If he senses I'm less than enthusiastic about meeting with Sato-san again, just let him._

"You really don't like him that much, do you, Mai-san?" Masako observed. "It's unlike you, to dislike someone that unanimously for so little reason."

"I can't help it he gives me the creeps," Mai fired back. _And it's absolutely none of your business, _she thought furiously. "Well, I'd better go and tell him."

No one stopped her, but she could feel Naru and Masako's eyes on her as she left. _As if they have anything to gawp over! What is with these people today? _

She continued on her way to Sato-san's office and knocked on the door. _And just because I can't come up with a conscious reason why I don't like this guy doesn't mean I'm crazy, so there!_

"Come in!"

Mai pushed the door open, rolling her eyes at the boisterous tone to the man's voice. _In a way, I guess this is the sort of person I normally wouldn't mind. Maybe Naru's attitude is wearing off on me. _ A truly horrifying thought, certainly, but there didn't seem to be any other way to explain her dislike of the man.

Sato-san smiled at her as he closed the drawer to his desk. "Hello, Taniyama-san. Is there anything I can help you with? Are you back for more hot water?"

Mai took a breath. _Yep, it's confirmed. I'm turning into Naru. _"No," she said, forcing herself to smile and be polite. "Actually, Sato-san, I came to ask a favor of you on behalf of Shibuya-san."

"Shoot," Sato-san said, still grinning. "I'd be pretty much willing to comply with anything your boss has to ask. Y'know, you guys have been pretty awesome about this whole thing, and I'm sorry I couldn't get any information for you or anything--"

_I almost feel sorry for him now, _Mai thought as he continued prattling on about how professional they were, how sorry he was, ad infinitum. _ It's not like he's done anything—he's been pretty polite whenever I've talked to him—so why does it irritate me just to hear him talk? _ "That's good to hear," she said, when he took a breath. _Rude, but how else am I to get a word in edgewise? _"We're going to be performing a summoning in the storeroom—"

"The one over the basement?"

"Yes, and Na--Shibuya-san asks that we be undisturbed for the time it takes to complete the ceremony." Another wide, fake smile. She wasn't all that good at this, but she did understand how to hide irritation behind a smiling exterior. Most of the time. "Hopefully, if we can cleanse the spirits of their regrets, they'll pass on and your problems will be solved."

Sato-san nodded. "That can be arranged, of course. If there's anything else I can do, please let me know, wont you?"

_See? He's perfectly nice. _"We will, Sato-san. Konnichawa." She turned to leave, her errand finished.

Sato watched her go, his eyes narrowing as her back turned. _A sweet girl, perhaps, but far too intuitive. Well, with any luck, they'll just exorcise the damn spirits and leave, but if not….._

_If not…._

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_16:30, day 2_

Masako knelt quietly on the floor of the storeroom, hands together, her gray eyes shut. A single candle burned before her, the only illumination in the otherwise darkened room, setting flickering shadows against the wall. The others stood by the door, careful not to disturb her—Naru sat across from her, his usual file open on his lap to a blank page, pen held between slender fingers.

Mai resisted the urge to sigh as 10 minutes stretched into twenty, twenty into thirty, and still, Masako merely sat there, pale and silent as a statue. _I know these things can't be rushed, but still…. _It felt chilly in the storeroom, and Mai shivered involuntarily as she remembered the hand that had grabbed her ankle from under the stairs. _I wonder…I guess it could have been the woman who killed herself here, but why would she want my attention like that? She was ready to die—why doesn't she pass on? What was it that—_

_**Only, as the sun sank slowly into the horizon, he never did come.**_

_But why? He promised! _Dimly, she felt her own nails bite into the flesh of her palm as her hand tightened into a fist. _He promised me he would come. So why--?_

"Hara-san?"

"She's here already." Masako's voice sounded far away, as if it was echoing through some sort of tunnel. "But she doesn't want to come to me. She's already chosen her vessel."

_Yes, yes, I chose her. I did….._

Mai's last conscious thought before Kaoru-who-had-been's spirit took over her body was, _Oh, here we go again._

**A/N—And here is where the chapter ends. For now :D **

**Thanks, as always, to the reviewers from last chapter: Kay, canadianviolet, SimplyChristine, and Kyia Star—special thanks to Kyia Star for the concrit, which was very much appreciated :D There's not much Lin/Mai in this chapter for you, but there'll be more to come, trust me XD**

**Musical credit goes to: Ghost Hunt OST, "Babylon" by David Gray, "Mercedes Lullaby" and "A Princess" from the Pan's Labyrinth soundtrack. **

**About the timing of this story—I had originally wrote it to pick up off the end of the anime, but then I started reading Volume 10 and it totally threw off what I had written, so I moved it back. This takes place somewhere between the Blood-Stained Labyrinth and The Cursed House arcs of the anime—I'm not sure what that is in the manga or novels. **

**See you all next chapter :D**


	7. Dat 2, continued

**Day 2, continued**

"_She's already here."_

Mai stood there in the middle of the room, her eyes wide. She looked almost frightened—she was breathing hard as if she'd run a long way, and her hands, which ad hung at her sides a moment before, were lifted now, as if in defense. Her short hair swirled as her gaze darted from member to member of SPR. Not a one of them looked away.

It was Masako who broke the tension. She stepped forward, a hand gently outstretched, and said, "Tell me who you are."

Mai said nothing. Her gaze fixed on something only she could see, and she closed them, swaying back and forth. Her humming began quietly, but increased in pitch and volume as she got the tune. It was enough to send a shiver up the back of anyone—the tune was slow and sad, like a child's lullaby, but at the same time, terribly sweet. The sense of longing in it was almost overpowering—Masako noticed out of the corner of her eye that Bou-san took a sharp breath, as though he had been struck; Ayako stood beside him, her mouth open in shock, her face bone-white. Lin hadn't moved, but there was a definite change in his demeanor—if he was anyone else, he would've flinched away. John was staring at her, as wide-eyed as she was. Naru seemed unaffected, but his eyes had narrowed, and he took a small step forward before Masako waved a hand at him to stay back. There was something amiss here. She frowned, trying to figure it out.

Mai's humming seemed to fill the room until it seemed sure that her small body was not its only source—it thrummed through the air, infectious in its infinite sadness. In a way, though, it was a sort of invitation—even Masako felt it, trying to tug her in, bring her closer.

She took the tiniest of steps back as Bou-san and Lin-san both stepped forward; she waved them back as she had Naru. "Don't come any closer!" she warned. "She's weaving a compulsion. I've no idea what she's trying to do, or if she'll hurt you."

"Compulsion?" Bou-san sounded shocked. "But…. why?"

"Just don't fall for it," Masako informed the monk brusquely—there wasn't time for politeness. "Stay back until I find out more. That goes for the rest of you as well," she added, seeing the way that John and Ayako had started forward behind the other two. "It's not Mai there—you have to remember that."

Mai opened her eyes, and they were filled with such an infinite sadness and wanting that Masako had to brace herself—this spirit's emotions were strong. From what she could tell, the spirit was around Mai's age, maybe a little older—and without asking her, Masako knew why she hadn't passed on. _She's looking for something. Or someone. That might explain the compulsion as well—either she had some sort of power in her former life, or she's gained something different in the time she's been trapped here. But that's…almost impossible, unless….._

Mai's humming faltered for a brief moment as her eyes darted from member to member of the team. Masako set aside her other thoughts in favor of taking care of the task at hand—she could ask Bou-san or Lin-san about it all later, after Mai had been released._ Of course, _she thought, surveying the monk and the sorcerer from the corner of her eye, _they've probably already thought of that, as well. Possibly Matsuzaki-san and Naru as well, but they're probably far more occupied holding off the compulsion, since Naru can't ward at all and Matsuzaki-san's certainly less powerful on her own than the two of them. _

Mai turned to Masako, her eyes hard, fists clenching at her side. "Not you, either," she muttered, her voice foreign and harsh, a different woman's voice with a light undertone of sweetness to her sorrow. "He promised…."

Masako stayed calm. "Who promised you what? I can't help you," she added, "if you wont speak to me. Why are you doing this? You need to go on."

She rocked, back and forth, from heels to toes, her body swaying with the movement. "Why, why, why?" she chanted softly, almost under her breath. Masako felt the compulsion strengthen again, and saw the others struggle to fight it back. _She doesn't wish to talk to any of us particularly, so why does she keep on refueling the spell? Unless she's trying to pull in someone else… _"I cant find him, I cant…."

"Kaoru." Masako's voice was soft as she used the name that Mai had dreamed of. The spirit froze in her body, obviously paralyzed by the use of her given name. "You're Kaoru, right?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know?" she asked, sharply, warily.

"I'm one who would help you," Masako told her. "Kaoru-san, you cant stay here. The one you're looking for…you won't be able to find him, if you stay here. You've been gone a long time."

A series of emotions flitted across the other girl's face. "I will be able to find him," she said, low and dangerous. "I will. You won't be able to stop me!" Her voice was rising now, gaining an almost hysterical note. "Not you and not _that_ one. Not anyone." She was obviously struggling now. "Let me go!"

Masako frowned. _As far as I can tell, she could move on if she wanted to. So why--? Of course, then again, maybe she cant. But if she cant, then who's trapping her this way? _"I can't. Only you can make your decision. Perhaps it's time to let go of him," she added. "He hurt you, didn't he?"

She did not expect the girl to dart forward and seize her wrist, pinning her to the spot. Mai's fingers, normally not all that strong, seemed to cut into her skin—her eyes were wild now, filled with panic and pain and something that Masako couldn't quite identify. Masako winced as her grip tightened.

"You know nothing," she hissed. "You know nothing _at all_." Her knuckles were turning white as she increased the pressure of her hand; Masako felt her fingers tingle and go numb as the supply of blood was cut off. She tugged at Mai's grip a little, trying to get away, but the other girl's hand twisted cruelly, bringing her back to her former position. She obviously had no intention of letting her get away, and her moment of fear—however brief—had left her vulnerable. She took a deep breath, willing herself to stay calm. She saw Naru exchange a significant glance with Lin-san; the older assistant nodded almost imperceptibly and stepped forward cautiously until he was just behind Mai, both cutting off her escape from the room and in a good position to restrain her should she hurt Masako any further. _I hope he knows what he's doing, _she thought. _But then again, the compulsion's almost gone now; in her anger, she's forgotten it. She's more focused on me right now then she is on finding whoever she's looking for. _

"Hara-san." Naru's voice wasn't very loud; he was obviously making an effort not to incite Kaoru any further. Unusual, for him. "Don't break eye contact, please. Try not to make any sudden movements, either." Masako understood; in the state this girl was in, she could easily lose all control and hurt either them, or her vessel—Mai, herself, certainly wasn't aware enough to prevent any such thing.

The girl gripped her arm even tighter, but it felt more desperate than malicious now. Her eyes widened in fear. "Help me," she whispered. "Help me, please."

Masako was about to reply when the door behind John and Yasuhara swung open, admitting light from the room behind it. The girl who was still clinging to her arm stiffened in surprise—internally, Masako winced. _I thought Sato-san was told that we weren't to be disturbed!_

"Inoue-san!" There he was, a second too late. Masako was starting to see how Mai might dislike him. She turned her eyes away briefly to glance at the man in the doorway—she remembered him vaguely as one of the ones Mai and Naru had spoken too the day before—and immediately realized her mistake as Mai suddenly let go of her arm, turning to face the same way she was and freezing on the spot. Half a second later, and she crumpled to the floor, her body going as limp and lifeless as an empty sack as the spirit left her.

_Surely she hasn't been possessed that long as to cause her to pass out like this, _Masako thought as Lin-san reached out to catch her. _ There's something wrong…._

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Jou-chan? Mai!"

"Taniyama-san?"

Naru ignored the commotion behind him and turned to face Inoue-san and Sato-san, both of whom were now standing in the doorway. Sato-san looked nervous; he pushed his glasses up his nose and shifted restlessly from foot to foot as Naru's cold gaze fell on him. Beside him, Yasuhara suppressed a shiver. _Really, _he thought. _It's like the temperature just fell by at least three degrees. _He could almost feel vaguely sorry for the bespectacled man, if it hadn't have been for the fact that he had had a decent warning about all of this.

"I'm sorry, Shibuya-san." The other man spoke first, his voice as nervous as the rest of him. "Inoue-san just got here, and he hadn't heard that you weren't supposed to be—"

"Respectfully, Sato-san, I need you to get out," Naru said, abruptly cutting off whatever the other man was about to say. Yasuhara was almost surprised by this—it was one thing for Naru to be rude to the SPR workers; quite another to be rude to the client. _Then again, it's never really stopped him before. Mori-san's the only one who can get him to be polite. _

The other man looked shocked, for a brief moment; then he pushed his glasses back up again and nodded, tugging at Inoue-san's sleeve. The actor was standing very, very still—he was frowning, as though it was he who had been imposed on, not them. His gaze was fixed somewhere over Yasuhara's shoulder. After a moment, the actor turned his head away from them and followed Sato-san out.

The door shut behind them, as if it mattered any more.

"Hara-san. She's gone, I presume?"

Masako's response was slow in coming. "Yes," she said, finally. "But there's something wrong."

_Oh, man. Why do I get such a bad feeling about this? It cant be that awful. _Yasuhara turned to see Taniyama-san slumped over Lin-san's arm, Masako and Bou-san both clustered around the two assistants, both of them looking worried.

_On second thought….._

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_She was on her own in the thick mist, unable to see where she was going, hardly able to move. Moving through the blank whiteness was like moving through syrup—every movement seemed to have an extra few pounds added to it. She felt the overwhelming urge to lie down and let it take her where it would—let herself ameliorate into it's depths—but she kept going, unsure even of what she kept going for, but knowing that she couldn't stop—there was a vague warning in the back of her mind about those who stopped, and she wasn't ready to die. Not yet._

_She started as a hand reached out from the mist to touch her arm. She stopped and watched, although every muscle in her body was screaming for her to run, as the other girl slowly detached herself from the mist—first her hands, then head and shoulders. She was struggling to free herself from the rest of it, but the tendrils of mist around her tightened cruelly, making her gasp—Mai gasped as well as an overpowering sour scent filled the air around her. __**What's going on here? This isn't right at all….**_

_The girl gave up on extricating herself from the fog and gazed at Mai with pleading eyes. Her hair, long and black, spilled over her shoulders, contrasting strongly with the red and gold kimono she wore. Her eyes were dark, wide, and absolutely terrified—although Mai could see a hint of steel in their depths. _

"_Let me go!" she demanded. "Stop it! I have to…."_

"_But I cant let you go. I'm not doing this."_

_The girl gave no sign that she had heard her. "I cant stay here, you have to let me go! Cant you see what you're doing, you idiot?" She tugged at the tendrils of mist, trying to release herself from them; they only tightened more cruelly, tugging her back, her body vanishing once more into the mist around her. "No, no, no!" she wailed. "Noriko! Mother! Someone…."_

_And she was gone, swallowed once more by the mist._

_And Mai was swirling into the mist herself; she fought it for a few moments before she recognized the hand on her shoulder and gave in. She twisted to look at him. "Naru?"_

"_You have to go back," he said. "You're too far gone, and this is far too dangerous a place for you to be like this." _

"_Why is this happening?" she asked. "Why cant she get free?"_

"_The answer's there. Don't trouble yourself about it right now. What you need to concentrate on right now is your own safety." He reached out and tapped her collarbone, making her heart jump, shocked, in her chest. __**Wha—what's he doing?**_

"_Where's your focus?" he asked her._

"_Wha—what do you mean?"_

"_You had something. Something that helped you—that sort of thing's called a focus. You used to have it with you all the time, but now—" he frowned—"it's gone."_

"_You mean, like, an object?" Suddenly, she realized—she reached for the slim chain that always hung around her neck and tugged the key-pendant out of her shirt, only to discover that it wasn't there—the chain was bare of any ornamentation. "Wha—but I had it! I remember when I left my apartment the other day…." _

"_You must have mislaid it somehow." He was frowning, his brow creased. "It lends you a little protection—it's not much, but it can make a difference." He glanced over his shoulder, almost as if he was listening for someone, then took her hand. "Come. You have to go back now."_

_The mist swirled around her, making her feel disoriented—she shut her eyes, and the next thing she knew, she was over her own body, looking down at herself through a hole that had cleared in the mist. Naru still held her hand—she looked up into his eyes and saw the troubled look there. _

"_Don't be worried," she told him. "I'll be just fine."_

_He squeezed her hand. "I know you will," he told her. "We'll keep an eye on you, just the same."_

_And she was falling, his hand releasing hers as she drifted downward, his last words echoing through her head._

"_Be careful, Mai-chan. Trust yourself and keep safe…."_

She woke with a start, sitting halfway up before a wave of weakness overcame her and forced her to take it slower. _What? I've never felt this bad waking up before—except for that one time, at Yasuhara's high school…..but surely I couldn't have breathed anything in the storeroom or the base?_

"Hey, take it easy." Cool hands reached out to support her—she gladly accepted Ayako's support as the older woman helped her to a sitting position. "Breathe deep. You were right, as much as it pains me to admit it," she fired at Bou-san, standing just behind her. "She's weak as a kitten."

"See? I knew you'd come around eventually," he said—his eyes betrayed the lighthearted tone of his words as he bent over her. "Mai? Do you feel better now?"

Mai clenched her hand to keep it from shaking. "What happened?" she asked. "I remember—I remember Kaoru possessing me…." _I must have been out again, _she realized. _That's why I couldn't stop. _"Where is everybody, anyway?"

"Naru went to talk to Sato-san." Ayako shuddered. "My gods, he was angry. I don't ever want to see him like that again. It's like being frozen to death… John and Yasuhara are cleaning up in the storeroom. I have no idea where Lin-san is. It doesn't matter; you're all right, and that's the best we could have hoped for."

"I was really in that much danger? How?"

Bou-san looked unusually serious. "Something happened—you passed out, and there was no way to wake you. You were like a dead person…."

"But you're fine now, right?" Ayako interrupted. Was it just Mai's imagination, or did her eyes flick over to Bou-san to silence him? "How do you feel?"

Mai considered. _I feel…shaky. Like I've been ill, or something. More importantly, what's going on? And why do they want to keep it from me? _"I'm all right," she told Ayako, a thought forming in her mind. "Look—I think it might help if I could just run to the bathroom and splash some water on my face, you know? It might clear my head a little." _Please fall for this, _she silently begged the older woman.

Ayako appeared suspicious, at the least. "Eh, are you sure? I don't even know if you should be up and walking after that."

"Yeah, she's right," the monk agreed. "Why don't you just rest a little until the boss gets back?"

Mai took a deep breath and straightened, trying her legs out tentatively—they wobbled a little, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. "No, really. I'm fine," she argued. _They're not falling for this, _she thought with some despair. "I just need some water for my face."

"I could have this idiot go and get you a wet towel, if you need it that badly," Ayako said, still stubbornly holding her ground. Her chin was set, and it was obvious that she wasn't going to give way at any point in the foreseeable future. _What is she playing at? _The miko thought, surveying Mai with a doctor's eye. _They were right. She's not going to tell us any more than she thinks we need to know. Idiot girl, _she raged in her mind. _How are we to protect you if you wont obey?_

Mai knew she was fighting a losing battle, but she wasn't ready to give up yet. _What's with this? I'm not her daughter. Why's she being this way? _"I'm fine," she said, exasperated. "Look, I just want to go and splash some water on my face. I can walk; it's not like I'm crippled or anything." She managed to get her legs underneath her and stand, albeit shakily. "Really, Ayako. I was possessed. It's not like it hasn't happened before."

For a moment, it seemed like the miko was going to push her right back down again, but then her mouth hardened into a line and she nodded. "Fine. I'm coming with you."

Before Mai could protest this, Ayako took hold of her arm and tugged her out of the room, casting a dark look at the monk as she left. _You could have helped me just a little, you know, _she thought. _After all, it was you who scared us all half to death when she passed out. Oh, I guess that was at least a little bit Lin-san, but it was you mostly. _Takigawa shrugged in that way that meant that he wasn't going to make any sort of apology—Ayako shook her head a little at the bassist's stubbornness. _Honestly, he can be worse than all of the rest of them put together sometimes. _

_Of course, that might just be your perspective on it, _a traitorous voice whispered in her mind. _Your position is somewhat….closer than any one else's, isn't it?_

Ayako scowled. _That wont ever happen again, _she promised herself. _It was a lapse in judgment that wont be repeated. I should tell him that—but that would necessitate being alone with him for any length of time, and I'm not going to do __**that. **_

_Because you wont be able to keep yourself from lapsing in judgment again?___

Ayako scowled and shook her head again, firmly telling her own subconscious to shut up. She turned her attention to Mai, who was walking beside her with careful, tentative steps. She was still so pale—her eyes were bright, almost fevered-looking, and her body seemed to radiate tension. Her lips were set in a tight, stubborn line, and as Ayako watched, she caught a glimmer of troubled feelings in the girl's eyes. _She knows more than she's telling. Now I see why they were so worried—why does she have to pull into herself this way? Please,_ she thought, a little forlornly. _Please, child, tell us what's wrong so that we can help you._

What she said out loud was, "How are you doing? You're getting a little color back into your cheeks. You should eat and drink something, and then go rest some more. I'm sure someone else could take over your duties for a little while if you wanted to—"

"I'll be fine," Mai said abruptly, cutting her off. "Really—if I wet my face a little and have a little to eat, I'll be all okay in no time." She gave Ayako a wan little smile that didn't mask the trouble in her eyes. "I'm used to taking care of myself, y'know? This isn't all that different from the times I've been sick or hurt."

_And why the hell does she have to be so self efficient? _"Well, I'm taking care of you now," she declared. "The least you can do is be good after you scared me half to death." _And not only me. How is it that you've managed to work your way into all of our hearts? Even Naru was worried, even if his way of showing it was to be a brat. _

Mai paused in front of the door to the small bathroom. "You're right," she said, sounding a little reflective. "I've got an idea. Why don't you go and see if you can get me something to eat and drink while I'm in here? I'll be right out," she said hastily, catching the "no way in hell" glance that Ayako had just given her. "I'll go straight back to the base room and wait for you there."

She thought the older woman was going to refuse, but she nodded instead. "All right then," she said. "If you're not back at the base room in twenty minutes….."

"I will be," Mai reassured her. "I can walk well enough, and if I feel faint, I'll call out and someone'll come."

Before the older woman could think better of this plan, Mai ducked into the tiny alcove-restroom and leaned against the chipped sink, making sure that the door was bolted behind her. She splashed a little water on her face and waited a minute, to give Ayako time to get out of sight, then stealthily undid the bolt and opened the door just a crack. No one was in sight. _Good. _

Fortunately, the hall stayed empty as she crept past the base room's door. If Bou-san was still there, he was either being quiet or Ayako hadn't told him to look out for her—she didn't peek through the slightly ajar door, just in case. Instead, she edged her way along, checking around corners to make sure Ayako wasn't lurking about waiting to catch her disobeying. _Now that I think about it, I'm almost certain I had the key when I got here—I must have just dropped it somewhere. _A brief pang of sadness struck her at the thought of losing this, her good-luck charm left over from the time she had spent with her mother. _Don't be silly, _she told herself firmly, to keep the tears back. _There are other things you need to focus on, Taniyama Mai! More important things. Like solving this case. Like freeing Kaoru. There'll be time enough for sentiment later. _

She didn't even notice that she was outside Sato-san's office—she had just been letting her feet carry her where they would as long as no one was there to stop her—until voices from behind the door caught her attention. She stopped, listening intently.

"—None of your concern," Naru was saying, his voice very, very chilly; Mai winced at the very sound of it.

"I'm sorry," Sato-san replyed after a moment. "I didn't mean to offend you in any way, Shibuya-san. I was merely voicing—"

"What does it matter?" another voice said, sharp and scornful. _Inoue-san. Why's he in there with Naru and Sato-san? _"The fact is that you and your people still haven't fixed this…this problem. And I personally don't think you're going to."

"Inoue-san!" Even Sato-san seemed shocked at Inoue-san's rudeness. "They've hardly been here two days!"

"Like they'll be able to actually solve this, however many days they take! I bet they don't even really know what they're doing. I don't have any faith in you _psychics._" He spat the word like a curse.

"Inoue-san--!"

Naru was silent, in the way he so often was when he was being doubted. Most people took this as a sign of surrender—Mai knew better. His silence was like a cloud on the horizon, only a herald of the storm to come. _After all, he hates being beaten. The only person I've ever seen do it has been Madoka—she's the only one who never suffers consequences of it anyway. _

"Be quiet, Sato!" Inoue snapped. "Do not forget that I have a say about what goes on here as well. And I want them gone!"

_What? Inoue-san….what "say" does he have? And why's he being so rude to Sato-san and to Naru? Hasn't he seen the manifestations in the storeroom? Could it be that he's afraid?_

As if echoing her thoughts, Naru said, "Inoue-san. If the situation is stressful to you, perhaps you should take a few days off. I can assure you that we are, at this moment, investigating the manifestations that have occurred here—"

"I could care less—" Inoue-san began.

"Inoue-san!" Sato sounded horrified. "You're being very rude—"

"And you're being blind and careless!"

"Inoue-san, you cant behave that way to the—"

Mai sighed as the two men both began talking at once. _Where is Lin-san, anyway? One would think he'd be there to help Naru out…._

She tuned back in just as Inoue-san said, "—what was going on in that storeroom."

"The paranormal is our business, Inoue-san," Naru said, quite coldly. "We will inform you when we have determined what's going on and fixed it."

Silence for a moment, probably while the older man gazed at Naru in shock.

When Inoue-san finally spoke, his voice was low and lethal. "You're nothing but a child," he hissed. "And an unnatural one at that."

"Inoue-san!" Sato-san gasped.

The other man continued ruthlessly. "You and that girl….I want you all gone from this place. You don't know what you're doing and you certainly haven't helped _anything _since you got here. All you've done is stir them up more, don't you see that?"

Another long, uncomfortable silence.

"They say there's a curse given to those who act as ghosts before they are dead," Inoue-san said, still in that same threatening tone. "Would you call that down upon that girl? She's so young…so innocent. How could you wish such a fate on one who you care for?" His tone had changed now—it was almost mocking. "Well? Speak."

Mai's breath caught in her chest. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't speak—it was as if she'd been turned to stone, awaiting his answer.

"My job will be finished," Naru said, coldly, "whether or not it means what you say." There was the sound of a chair being scraped back. "Good day, Sato-san, Inoue-san."

Mai's inability to move left her as she scurried away from the door. There was _no way _she was going to be caught eavesdropping on Naru. She managed to get around the corner before she heard the door open and close behind her—looking for a way out, she spied one of the smaller doors that led outside and pushed it open, then whisked out into the slight drizzle.

Only to run—literally—into Lin-san.

**A/N--More of a placeholder chapter than anything else. Shrugs I've been busy, what can I say? **

**The next few chapters should wrap this story right up ******

**Thanks as usual to all my reviewers!**


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